Engineers say underinvestment in U.S. infrastructure
costs average family $3,400 a year

From AASHTO Journal May 13:

The broad range of U.S. infrastructure – roads, water and power networks, the goods supply chain – is suffering so much from chronic underinvestment that it will cost the average family $3,400 a year over the next decade, the American Society of Civil Engineers said in a new report.

"Poor infrastructure means more congestion on our roadways, broken water lines and power outages, and an inability to get our goods to market," said Greg DiLoreto, chair of the ASCE's Committee for America's Infrastructure.

"From lost time, to inconvenience, to spending money to fix our cars or a flooded basement, it's a very real cost that we're paying," he added.

The report also puts a big price tag on the gap between what all levels of government and private investment are spending now and what it would actually take to fix the problems – an extra $1.44 trillion through 2025.

However, said DiLoreto, "Infrastructure is our economic backbone. This report again shows us that every day we delay, our infrastructure goes from needing to be repaired to needing to be replaced" at much higher cost.

In fact, the association said the United States is now "spending more failing to act on our investment gap then we would to close it." Inefficient infrastructure is costing every household $9.30 a day, the ASCE said. But it added that if every household instead invested an additional $3 a day into rebuilding infrastructure, the country could close the investment gap in 10 years.

The ASCE analysis finds that the biggest funding gap is in the transportation sector, and estimates it needs an additional $1 trillion in the next decade across the network of roads, bridges and rail systems.

It said that "various state actions along with some federal funding measures have helped stabilize the infrastructure gap, but the overall picture remains – underinvestment is negatively affecting the nation's economy."

The ASCE report came out days ahead of the May 16-23 annual observance of "Infrastructure Week," when supporters of investment in transportation and other systems help focus attention on the benefits of fixing infrastructure and the rising costs of dodging the bill.

As reported earlier, officials from AASHTO and the Eno Center for Transportation will hold a May 16 event to consider how disruptive technologies can change transportation systems.

Meanwhile, the American Road & Transportation Builders Association is urging members and others to urge Congress to include in any tax reform legislation a long-term fix to the finances of the Highway Trust Fund.

The ARTBA effort notes that in the five-year FAST Act surface transportation law Congress supplemented dedicated HTF funding with a large general fund transfer, and once that law expires the trust fund will again be left with a big gap between its project spending and revenue stream.

Officials from ARTBA, AASHTO and other groups have also made the point that the FAST Act's funding increases were only "modest," and too low to close much of the backlog of project needs or keep up with increasing demand on transportation networks.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


Published 05-20-16