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America's GPA: D+
Estimated Investment Needed by 2020:
$3.6 Trillion

USDOT to Public: #ShowUsYourInfraWear

August 7th, 2015 | By: Olivia Wolfertz

With Congress on recess and the new short-term highway patch hourglass beginning to slowly sieve, the symptoms of our nation’s aging infrastructure are gaining more attention from the media and states. Just this week, a subway train derailed in Washington, D.C., causing extreme delays for daily commuters. In response to the ubiquity of worn out infrastructure, the U.S. Department of Transportation launched an Instagram and Twitter campaign, asking Americans to submit photos of worn-out infrastructure in their local communities with the hashtag #ShowUsYourInfraWear. The goal is to highlight the most pressing infrastructure needs that inconvenience the American public and they could be fixed if there were a long-term surface transportation bill. On a legislative note, Senator Tom Carper from Delaware introduced a bill—believed to be the first-ever to use a hashtag in the bill title. This bill would incrementally increase the gas tax over the next four years, resulting in a 16-cents-per-gallon increase by 2020 that would then be tied to inflation. “At a time when gas prices are some of the lowest we’ve seen in recent memory, we should be willing to make the hard choice to raise the federal gas tax,” Carper said, in regards to the need to produce long-term funding to #FixTheTrustFund. With long-term funding, not only would infrastructure needs be met, but the opportunity to invest in infrastructure projects, as identified in #GameChangers, would arise. This past Thursday was the 101st anniversary of the traffic light, which stood as one of the original game changers of our transportation world. If we want to see more innovations continue to improve our society, we need to be willing to make the investment. It is essential that Congress work diligently in the next three months to find a long-term funding solution for surface transportation. You can write your representative a letter or call their office and share the message to #FixTheTrustFund by the Oct 29 deadline.

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This Week in Infrastructure: Federal Funding Proposals Outline Roadmap for the Future

February 6th, 2015 | By: Olivia Wolfertz

A conversation between Foxx and Schmidt during Foxx's Google chat

A conversation between Foxx and Schmidt during Foxx’s Google chat

Between the USDOT’s 30-year transportation funding plan, Obama’s 2016 budget featuring the GROW AMERICA act and testimonies of transit needs in the media, our nation’s beleaguered infrastructure is getting some much-needed attention. One blaring example of the our nation’s urban transit needs is evident in James Robertson’s now viral story of walking 21 miles as part of his commute to and from work in Metro Detroit due to lack of transit. While this is an extreme case, Metro Detroit’s transit options have become fewer over the last five years. The Detroit Free Press reported that tens of thousands of Detroit residents have limited or zero access to public transit that meets their core needs, echoing the Report Card’s assessment that 45 percent of households don’t have access to transit. According to the Detroit Free Press, the cascading effect of transit needs is critical as, “cities live and die on their ability to move their citizens around.” In May, Director of Michigan DOT, Kirk Steudle, has the opportunity to begin addressing this need along with the state of the roads by passing Proposition 1 which will remove the sales tax from gas and allow the fuel tax to be raised, in order to provide for transit needs and “stop the decline” of Michigan’s roads. Infrastructure is a problem across the nation. America’s roads are now ranked no. 16 in the world, behind countries such as Oman, the United Arab Emirates and Portugal. The USDOT’s 30 Year Transportation Plan Blue Paper compares our nation’s infrastructure quality, broken down by sector, with that of the world’s. It also projects how failing to invest in our infrastructure, as the country’s population continues to increase, will affect the daily lives of every American.  It is startling to think that by 2045 traffic conditions like that in Los Angeles could be the reality of every city. It is clear that transportation issues, whether traffic gridlock, transit shortages or bridge closures, are a direct result of lack of maintenance and funding. Obama’s GROW AMERICA Act, and a $478 billion, six-year surface transportation (MAP-21) re-authorization proposal, are encouraging steps to address this but does not provide the long-term, sustainable funding that our surface transportation system requires.

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Statement from The American Society of Civil Engineers Urging Immediate Congressional Action to Avert Highway Trust Fund Insolvency

April 16th, 2014 | By: America's Infrastructure Report Card

Reston, Va. – The following is a statement from Randall (Randy) S. Over, P.E., F.ASCE, president of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) regarding the U.S. Department of Transportation’s report issued yesterday on the future of the Highway Trust Fund: “The report issued this week by the U.S. Department of Transportation outlines an ominous picture for the Highway Trust Fund and is not good news for America. “We’re at a critical crossroad.  Projections indicating that the Highway Trust Fund will now become insolvent by the end of August, underscore ASCE’s sense of urgency that Congress must act now to find long-term sustainable funding for the nation’s transportation system. “ASCE’s economic reports have found that our deteriorating transportation infrastructure will cost the American economy more than 876,000 jobs and suppress the growth of our GDP by $897 billion by the year 2020. Furthermore, the nation’s surface transportation systems are facing a funding gap of about $94 billion a year with our current spending levels. “As more and more states are forced to put crucial transportation projects on hold due to the uncertainty of federal funds, the nation’s surface transportation will continue to deteriorate, causing a negative ripple effect throughout our economy.  Roads and bridges won’t be maintained, businesses will suffer and jobs will be lost. “ASCE urges Congress to take immediate action to identify long-term revenue solutions for the Highway Trust Fund to avert this impending crisis.” Founded in 1852, the American Society of Civil Engineers represents more than 145,000 civil engineers worldwide and is America’s oldest national engineering society. ASCE’s 2013 Report Card for America’s Infrastructure, graded America’s cumulative GPA for infrastructure at a D+. The Report Card app for Apple and Android devices includes videos, interactive maps and info-graphics that tell the story behind the grades, as well as key facts for all 50 states. For more information, visit www.asce.org and follow us on Twitter, @ASCETweets and @ASCEGovRel. 

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