Infrastructure Is the Missing Ingredient to Healthy School Lunches
December 30th, 2013 | By: Infrastructure Report Card
The Kids’ Safe and Healthful Foods Project lead by The Pew Charitable Trusts and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation released a report this December titled, Serving Healthy School Meals: U.S. Schools Need Updated Kitchen Equipment. They found that 55% of school food authorities (SFAs) need kitchen infrastructure changes at one or more schools to meet new healthy lunch requirements. That’s right – the majority of America’s schools need to fix their school’s infrastructure problems in order to serve up healthy school lunches every day.
Here’s a few of their key findings:
Tags: infrastructure, infrastructure investment, report card, schools, state
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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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Public Opinion Shows Americans Open to Bus Rapid Transit
November 12th, 2013 | By: America's Infrastructure Report Card
Our friends at HNTB recently conducted their latest America THINKS survey, which polled a random nationwide sample of 1,127 Americans. The conclusion: Americans are open to new approaches to public transportation, such as bus rapid transit. But what is ‘bus rapid transit’? Simply, it is a new way of thinking about community bus service. According to HNTB, “Bus rapid transit is a lower-cost, more easily implemented alternative to a rail-based commuter transit system, yet still includes many popular features of rail-based public transportation, such as routes that are clearly laid out and run on a frequent and reliable schedule. BRT systems also often include low-emissions vehicles, electronic and/or automatic payment methods, and real-time arrival and departure updates.” In the 2013 Report Card for America’s Infrastructure, Transit earned a “D.” The Report Card found that 45% of American households lack any access to transit, and millions more have inadequate service levels. However, Americans who do have access have increased their ridership 9.1% in the past decade. Clearly, as demand for transit service increases, the question becomes how can cities, states, and communities meet this new challenge. HNTB’s study is encouraging in that it shows more and more Americans are seeing the connection between infrastructure investment and economic growth. Hopefully this trend will continue and we can all work together to raise our infrastructure grades.Tags: infrastructure, jobs, report card, transportation
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EPA Reports on the Importance of Water to the U.S. Economy
November 7th, 2013 | By: America's Infrastructure Report Card
This week, the Environmental Protection Agency released a new report titled “The Importance of Water to the U.S. Economy.” The report concludes that, as a nation, we do not currently reflect water’s true worth in the economy. A great example is the fact that communities across the country are low-balling the cost of clean, safe tap water. Simply, the rates you and I pay for water are too low. Of course, no one likes hearing that, but if we want the water to keep flowing, we are going to have to price water as the critical resource that it is. As with any utility, the concern is that when it is undervalued, “business-as-usual” will eventually be unsustainable. In the 2013 Report Card for America’s Infrastructure, ASCE gave both Drinking Water and Wastewater a “D” grade. These two grades were largely due to the fact that America’s pipes and sewers are sometimes nearly a century old. As one can see, this aging means that the need is growing while the utility itself does not bring in enough money to finance its own operation. This topic is not new to ASCE. In our series of economic reports, titled Failure to Act, we found that if America continues down our current path, with no new investments in water infrastructure, we will lose $416 billion in GDP by 2020 due to increased costs and loss of worker productivity. Households and business would bear the burden, losing $59 billion and $147 billion respectively over that time span. By 2020, the average family budget would be squeezed by $900 as water rates rise and personal income falls. The lesson of Failure to Act is the same as we see in the EPA report: the cost of inaction is unacceptable. EPA Assistant Administrator Nancy Stoner says the main findings of their report are: 1) Water is absolutely fundamental to the U.S. economy 2) Water value and competition will rise, and 3) Decision-makers in the private and public sectors need more information. The first two conclusions are well taken, and worth repeating; however, the final conclusion does not go far enough. There is ample information—from ASCE, from the EPA, and from other groups—that explains why water is undervalued. What the public and private sector needs is awareness. Replacing the nation’s antiquated pipes will require significant local investment, including higher water rates. Just as with fixing a leaky roof in your home, the longer we wait, the more it will cost. The EPA’s report should serve as yet another call to action for all levels of government to invest in our water infrastructure now.Tags: economic study, infrastructure, jobs, report card, water
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Infrastructure Investment Wins at the Ballot Box!
November 6th, 2013 | By: America's Infrastructure Report Card
Yesterday voters in Maine and Texas both affirmed ballot resolutions resulting in increased investment in their local infrastructure. In Maine voters overwhelming approved Bond Question 3, 72% in favor to 28% opposed. Bond Question 3 gives permission to the State to borrow $100 million to fund transportation projects around the state which in turn would make the State eligible for at least $154 million in matching funds. Proceeds from the sale of these bonds would be administered by the Department of Transportation and would fund at least $49 million for road projects, $27 million for bridge projects and $24 million for multi-modal projects, including facilities and equipment related to ports, harbors, marine transportation, aviation, railroads (both passenger and freight), and transit (public transportation). In Texas Proposition 6 was also approved by a large margin – 73% to 27%. Proposition 6 authorizes the transfer of $2 billion from the state’s Economic Stabilization Fund (ESF or “Rainy Day Fund”) to a State Water Implementation Fund for Texas (SWIFT). The $2 billion one-time cash infusion will be used with already authorized bonds to provide low interest loans, credit enhancement, interest deferrals, and other financial assistance to projects approved in the State Water Plan. It is expected that the SWIFT will operate as a revolving fund; with repayments funding new loans, the program should provide the financing needed to implement the projects in the 50-year State Water Plan. ASCE supported both of these initiatives through various media channels and Key Alerts to Section members in both states. In Texas, letters to the editor from ASCE members in Texas were picked up by the Houston Chronicle and Focus Daily News and KLTV in East Texas ran a video spot in which ASCE member Vik Verma, P.E., was highlighted. In Maine, two newspapers, the Morning Sentinel and the Bangor Daily News each ran supportive editorials that cited the 2012 Report Card for Maine’s Infrastructure. The voters in both of those states have shown that infrastructure investment is a priority. So should you!Tags: elections, infrastructure, state, state report card, transportation, water
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This Week in Infrastructure
November 1st, 2013 | By: America's Infrastructure Report Card
This week was the one year anniversary of Hurricane Sandy, reminding us that all infrastructure is connected. When we cannot bounce back from unavoidable events, we hurt our economy. One only needs to read the countless stories this week on Sandy to see the impacts still being felt. As with almost all infrastructure, the question is how we pay for these repairs and who bears the financial burden. As politicians debate these issues, real families and real businesses continue to fight and overcome from this tragedy. Interestingly, the anniversary of Hurricane Sandy coincides with next week’s upcoming elections. Localities and states continue to struggle with funding our nation’s infrastructure, perhaps best summarized in this quote from U.S. Conference of Mayors President Scott Smith (mayor of Mesa, AZ): “I think there is one thing mayors as a whole are concerned about and that is the seeming lack of commitment and excitement about long-term transportation and infrastructure investments.” Luckily, the great state of Maine is in a position to improve its infrastructure at the ballot box next week. On Nov. 5, Maine voters will be asked to approve Question 3, which asks whether voters favor a $100 million bond issue for reconstruction and rehabilitation of highways and bridges and for equipment and facilities related to other modes of transportation. This bond would be matched with about $154 million. With the backing of the Bangor Daily News and other publications, the Question continues to pick up momentum. Hopefully Maine voters will see the direct connection between the Question and their economic future next Tuesday. Till next week.A Jack-O-Lantern School Modernization
October 31st, 2013 | By: America's Infrastructure Report Card
After a devastating fire, the 100 year-old rebuild of Whatcom Middle School in Bellingham, Washington, is a great story of a jack-o-lantern school modernization. Changing the school from the inside-out, Whatcom now has all the modern conveniences of a new school and (even better) the seismic upgrades to make it resilient to the next earthquake, but it still has the same historical character of the school that was started in 1903. However, almost half of America’s public school buildings are like Whatcom – they’re much older than you might think and built to educate the baby boomers – a generation that is now retiring from the workforce.Tags: education, infrastructure, school facilities, success story
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House Freight Panel Comes Out With New Report
October 30th, 2013 | By: America's Infrastructure Report Card
The Panel on 21st Century Freight Transportation, established by the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee in April to examine the current state of freight transportation in the United States and how improving freight transportation can strengthen the U.S. economy, released its final report and recommendations yesterday. The special panel, led by Chairman John Duncan Jr. (R-TN) and Ranking Member Jerrold Nadler ( D-NY), also examined ways to increase the efficiency, safety and overall condition and performance of the nation’s freight network; how technology assists in the movement of freight; and financing options for transportation projects. To examine these issues, the panel held six public hearings and three roundtable discussions; in addition to touring freight facilities in Southern California, the Memphis region, the New York City and Northern New Jersey region, and Norfolk, Virginia. The final report concluded that Congress should:- Establish a national freight transportation policy and designate a multimodal freight network;
- Ensure “robust” public investment in all modes of freight transportation and incentivize additional private investment;
- Promote the development of projects that improve the movement of goods;
- Authorize dedicated, sustainable funding for multimodal freight projects through a grant process;
- Identify and recommend sources of revenue to provide investment in the nation’s freight network;
- Develo p specific funding options for freight transportation projects prior to Congress’s consideration of the surface transportation reauthorization bill in 2014.
- Air received a grade of D and has an estimated investment need of $134 billion;
- Bridges received a grade of C+;
- Transit received a D;
- Roads received a grade of D, and combined with bridges, and transit, have an estimated investment need of $1.7 trillion; and
- Rail received a grade of C+ and has an estimated investment need of $100 billion.
While the bipartisan report does not necessarily break any significant new ground, or specifically recommend new revenue sources for the ailing Highway Trust Fund, it does provide a strong foundation for MAP-21 reauthorization next year. Criticisms of the report for punting the funding solution to the Obama Administration are not unwarranted; however, the report does discuss a number of possible revenue sources, including public-private partnerships and a several freight-specific options, such as customs duties and a freight waybill tax. This bipartisan nature of the discussion on these topics does break new ground in a Congress where new revenue options have been shunned in the past. By laying out the problems with the freight system, as well as the growing concern for a lack of future revenue with a year to go until MAP-21 reauthorization, the report allows the critical conversation to commence. Additionally, it can prove as a critical education tool for new member of Congress who might not be as familiar with the impending insolvency of the Highway Trust Fund in the run up toward next September.
Tags: congress, infrastructure, transportation
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