Surprised rail is given a B- when you would think compared America's rail network against China, Europe, Japan etc. its more like a D or lower. Amtrak is good in some regions but decades behind other similarly wealthy countries and even plenty or countries with much lower GDP per capita.
It is important to keep in mind how this "Report Card" is a lobbying tool. A wishlist meant to influence, not an independent assessment meant to inform.
The prognosis is to spend more money building more things. This has been the prognosis every year since the lobbying started. Prior projects built based on this excessive lobbying have since reached end of life this scheme is so old. Now the reports include horror stories of this federal lobbied over building which got poorly maintained: as if the poor maintenance is not the expected result of building more than can be maintained.
Infrastucture funding in the US typically operates such that the federal government gives money to build new stuff, while local governments are left attempting to pay for the maintenance.
Try to find a single page dedicated to identifying over provisioned infrastructure which could be downsized to reduce maintance costs... The ASCE's solution to all problems is to spend more money building more.
If I had to pick the best recent improvement in domestic infrastructure it would be broadband access. I am seeing competing FTTP providers popping up in some Texas markets. The biggest regulator around here seems to be whatever local HOA you are part of. I've done a total 180 on these organizations. When ran well, they can dramatically improve your life.
It would be interesting to see an international ranking of this
This is an important inventory to maintain, as the cost to maintain or rejuvenate this infrastructure is essentially off the books sovereign debt that must be managed (and you can’t manage what you don’t measure).
American infrastructure is legitimately bad. I say that as someone who grew up there and spent the last half decade in UK.
What’s different about America is that we find different ways of dealing with the crap infrastructure, based on how much we’re willing to spend.
Want to circumvent the awful public transit system? Just pay for an Uber. ($70 JFK to Manhattan vs. the worst experience of your life taking public transit x3 if you’re lucky…)
Not happy with Medicare? Pay for private insurance. (btw - this happens in UK too.)
Public schools not up to par? Pay for your kid to go to private school.
Drinking water icky? No problem, buy some Evian from Whole Foods (Amazon delivers!)
Don’t like your Broadband? Well unfortunately in this case you’re SOL…
Some of this stuff is bad with no alternative, like the bridges and the broadband… those are the weaknesses that worry me. You can’t privatize bridges.
Meanwhile in the UK: trains run nonstop to every city, broadband is 500mbps on average (and $50), healthcare is free (slow, but not much slower than US)… but everything else is same problems and they pay less here.
Counter-point from Chuck from Strong Towns, "The Infrastructure Report Card is a Joke" from a month ago:
> We’re spending more than ever on infrastructure—but getting less. This report card isn’t truth. It’s marketing for broken systems.
Rush hour impact should be part of the road score. I am amazed Seattle is rated higher than an F in that respect. 405 south of Bellevue is TERRIBLE.
Being the world's first economy and rating C on average and D on critical infrastructure should be a wake-up call for Americans and libertarians. Rich in dollars but poor in every other measurable way.
I love that this is a thing, but man am I disappointed by the lack of a quantitative methodology (especially in terms of ranking problems by probability, severity, and cost) and specific, actionable recommendations. In aviation for example, some of the recommendations include
>Understand and adopt new and emerging technologies...
>Embrace proactive approaches to address sustainability, resiliency, and risk...
>Support and encourage airports to look at their systems holistically...
I can't disagree with any of those things, but at the same time nothing in this report helps clarify where we should allocate our ever-more-finite resources.
A C seems pretty generous...