This Week in Infrastructure: All the Reasons to Fix the Trust Fund
December 12th, 2014 | By: Olivia Wolfertz
Photo Credit: Steven Pisano
Tags: gas tax, highway trust fund, infrastructure investment, infrastructure report card
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This Week in Infrastructure: One Year Anniversary of the Report Card
March 21st, 2014 | By: Becky Moylan
One year ago this week, we released our 2013 Report Card for America’s Infrastructure. Our nation’s D+ infrastructure grade is an important piece of data to share as we advocate for infrastructure investment, especially as the United States approaches the Highway Trust Fund’s financial cliff later this year. Over the past year, ASCE and the Report Card have had more than 16,000 media mentions, a majority of which discuss the findings of the Report Card, including the grades of 16 infrastructure sectors covered in the Report Card and the $3.6 trillion investment needed by 2020. We are proud that nearly every day the hard work of our Report Card Committee members earns the attention of the media and the public. To celebrate a successful year of coverage and meaningful conversations here is a compilation of a few of our favorite media mentions. Daily Rundown Colbert Report Washington Post Huffington Post live New York Times NPR Fast CompanyTags: highway trust fund, infrastructure report card
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Meet IP3, the New P3 Where Citizens Are the Owners
December 19th, 2013 | By: Infrastructure Report Card
If you follow the infrastructure financing debate about how America is going to fund our future infrastructure needs, you have probably heard the term P3 or public-private partnership discussed as an innovative financing structure to utilize private investment in public infrastructure. However, with the release of the American Enterprise Institute’s new report, Road Pricing and Asset Publicization,” there is a new angle for the debate – the investment public-private partnership (IP3).
So what exactly is this IP3? Here’s how the report’s authors explain it: “The IP3 recognizes that you not the federal government or a private company—own roads that have already been built. And it offers you an annual payment for investing in them…. Under an IP3, a private company pays a public partner (like a state) a large upfront cash payment (called a concession) for the right to operate and collect toll revenue from an existing road network for a certain period of time. The IP3 locks away most of that concession payment—and most of the toll revenue—in a protected investment fund that pays an annual dividend to all households in the newly priced region. That helps offset the additional costs they will face from tolls, while recognizing that citizens are the true owners of the roads.”
America’s roads are definitely in need of repair so the more new ideas that are debated that’s all the better including P3s, gas tax changes and fixes, and all the others. While P3s are only one potential solution among the many, one thing is for certain – it’s time to start debating before the Highway Trust Fund is broke and many states lose half of their highway and bridge funding.
Tags: bridges, infrastructure, infrastructure report card, P3, roads, surface transportation, transportation
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Lighting Airports Runways with LEDs Saves Big for Raleigh
December 9th, 2013 | By: Infrastructure Report Card
America needs solutions to our infrastructure issues that can work today, and what if it’s as simple as switching out the lights? The replacement of the entire airfield electrical system at Raleigh-Durham International Airport (RDU) represents the first major air carrier airport in the United States to complete a full airfield conversion to FAA-certified LED airfield lighting. Beginning in 2008, the $20 million, two-year project replaced roughly 230 signs and 3,200 bulbs lighted with incandescent lighting — everything from taxiway edge and centerline lighting to runway centerline lights, obstruction lights, touchdown zone lights, runway end identifier lights, and elevated and in-pavement guard lights — with LED technology. The transition will save approximately $400,000 per year in energy and maintenance costs, including labor and parts. With AIP funds covering 75 percent of Phase One and North Carolina state funds and federal stimulus funds combining for Phase Two, maintenance savings alone are expected to recoup the airport’s portion of the project’s cost within 18 months. Find out more here on RDU’s website.Tags: Airports, energy, infrastructure, infrastructure report card, solutions, transportation
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State Leaders KEEP looking at transportation funding solutions
September 20th, 2013 | By: America's Infrastructure Report Card
This year we’ve seen policymakers at the state level take the lead on tackling the issue of infrastructure funding as several states moved to increase gas taxes (Massachusetts, Maryland, Vermont, Virginia, and Wyoming). And, this week state leaders are in Kansas City at the Council of State Governments (CSG) National Conference discussing a variety of issues with transportation and infrastructure high on their list of priorities. Legislators and DOT officials from around the country packed the room for CSG’s Transportation Policy Committee meeting to discuss how states can address infrastructure financing and funding challenges, including challenges with implementation of MAP-21. Dave Nichols, P.E., Director of the Missouri Department of Transportation told attendees that a “lack of action at the federal level has forced states to take matters into their own hands.” ASCE’s 2013 Report Card was highlighted during the session. Larry Frevert, P.E., a member of ASCE’s Committee on America’s Infrastructure which developed the Report Card, spoke to the group about the Report Card and the economic impact of infrastructure investment. Mr. Frevert’s presentation was very well received as he covered a variety of helpful information in the Report Card for state legislators. The CSG Transportation Policy Academy also passed two resolutions during their meeting. The first calls on Congress to pass the next federal surface transportation authorization bill prior to the expiration of MAP-21 on September 30 2104. The second resolution expresses support for a recent National Conference of State Legislators (NCSL) proposal that Congress create a $20 million program to support state level pilot programs to explore transportation funding alternatives to fuel taxes.FutureStructure – Looking at the Future of Infrastructure and Us
September 6th, 2013 | By: America's Infrastructure Report Card
What do we want and need from our infrastructure in a hyper-connected, modern world? ASCE has partnered with Governing magazine and others to consider what “FutureStructure” means and how we can get there. The goal of FutureStructure is to help public sector leaders think more like system engineers and get past the constraints of today’s often haphazard and siloed approaches. Last week, ASCE headed to Chicago to join the conversation about this new framework for thinking through and solving the infrastructure challenges and possibilities of an integrated, fully connected, and modern future. What does a 21st century city- and community-building approach consist of you may ask?- cities as systems that are connected, well integrated and smarter — with greater responsiveness to community needs;
- smart, connected and integrated infrastructure that makes more efficient use of resources and improves the quality of life for the people who use it;
- new job skills that will be needed to develop, build, deploy and operate these connected systems
This Week’s Top 5 Infrastructure Stories
September 6th, 2013 | By: America's Infrastructure Report Card
ASCE Report Card Chair Writes for PBS on Infrastructure’s Present and Future Expanding cities, global businesses, and an interconnected world mean that people need to travel to more places than ever before. Cities cannot prosper in isolation, and businesses cannot thrive if they cannot move goods effectively. As our nation continues to grow, so too must our basic infrastructure. Today, our roads, bridges, and transit systems are not keeping pace with America’s rapid change—meaning we are not positioning ourselves for the future. Maine House Majority Leader Backs Infrastructure Investment Maine wins when we make smart investments in our future. The recent State House approval of a bipartisan jobs and infrastructure bond package was just such a win. Looking ahead, we must next consider funding for research and economic development. Afraid of Heights!: Man Looks for Scariest Bridges The United States has seen a golden age of magnificent bridges built since the 1930s, O’Donnell says, and now the nation will likely focus on maintenance. Transportation and civil engineering groups have been warning for years about the consequences of neglecting U.S. bridges. Chair of House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Rides the Future Google’s not the only entity testing self-driving cars on actual US roads. Today, Bill Schuster (R-PA), the congressman who chairs the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, took a 33-mile trip in an autonomous vehicle built by Carnegie Mellon University and funded by General Motors. The 2011 Cadillac SRX ferried the Pennsylvania congressman from the town of Cranberry to Pittsburgh International Airport earlier this morning, while a cameraman broadcast his journey to the web. Infographic: Commuters Have Changed, So Must Our Infrastructure The percentage of U.S. workers who drove to work in a private vehicle grew from 62.7 percent in 1960 to 84.4 percent in 2011, according to Census Bureau data. Only around 9 percent commuted using a carpool in 2011, half the percentage of workers that carpooled in 1980.ASCE Attends National Conference of State Legislatures in Atlanta
August 27th, 2013 | By: America's Infrastructure Report Card
A few weeks ago I went down to Atlanta, GA to help ASCE participate in the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) annual Legislative Summit. The meeting is the largest gathering of state legislators held each year and was attended by nearly 5,000 people. One of the things I did there was to exhibit at the meeting with a booth that focused on the 2013 Report Card for America’s Infrastructure. I, along with other ASCE staff was able to interact with legislators and legislative staff from all 50 states. A special thanks to ASCE members from the Georgia Section who volunteered at this meeting: Janille Smith Colin, Jeffrey Chui, Danielle Elkins, A.M.ASCE, Katherine Gurd, Rick Gurney, P.E., M.ASCE, Rebecca Shelton, P.E., M.ASCE, and Ray Wilke, P.E., M.ASCE. The exhibit hall was a very…interesting… place. Every group under the sun seems to have a presence and everyone is pushing their message out to state legislators. From the National Rifle Association to the American Association for Nude Recreation, The Beer Institute to Lockheed Martin Aeronautics, if you are interested in an issue you can find someone to talk to you and educate you on it. Personally, I had multiple good conversations with state legislators about the condition on their state’s infrastructure and what they can do about it. It was a worthwhile event and I hope that people learned as much from me as I learned from others. NCSL next year is in Minneapolis. If you are in the area you should stop in!ASCE President: Our nation’s infrastructure depends on public and private investment to thrive
August 13th, 2013 | By: America's Infrastructure Report Card
On August 5, 2013, the Wall Street Journal ran an op-ed that argued against the merits of public investment in infrastructure. The following is a response from ASCE President Greg DiLoreto: Our nation’s infrastructure depends on public and private investment to thrive Larry Schweikart and Burton Folsom’s editorial (Obama’s False History of Public Investment, Aug. 6, 2013, page A13) misses a critical point. While entrepreneurs can often drive infrastructure investment, we need both the private and public sectors to play key roles in building and maintaining America’s infrastructure. Our national highway system comprises just 4 percent of all U.S. roads, yet it revolutionized and created entire industries. Today, 40 percent of all highway traffic occurs on this system, 75 percent of heavy truck traffic and 90 percent of tourist traffic. Imagine Amazon or Coca-Cola unable to move goods easily across states. While much of this massive undertaking was planned and funded by the public sector, many private sector firms were hired to execute the work. This critical road system created jobs in the short-term and spurred long-term economic growth. Economic growth necessitates a well-functioning, well-connected infrastructure network. ASCE’s recent economic studies found that if the nation continues to invest at the same meager levels in infrastructure, we will see a drop of $3.1 trillion in GDP by 2020 due to the ripple effect deficient infrastructure has on our nation’s economy. Past generations recognized that infrastructure was essential to interstate commerce and a healthy economy. After World War II, Americans built the nation we know today by investing in their communities. Now that bill is coming due. We must modernize and maintain the system we have to keep America at the forefront in order to continue building a strong economic recovery. Gregory DiLoreto, P.E., P.L.S, D.WRE President, American Society of Civil Engineers
