The “Report Card” for 2009 gave “grades” no higher than “C+” (for solid waste);
• A “D” for the condition in which it found America’s outdated avia- tion infrastructure;
• A “C” for bridges (more than 26 percent, with one in four either structurally deficient or functionally obsolete);
• A “D” for dams (4,000 found “deficient,” with 1,819 rated “high hazard”);
A “C” for bridges
• A “D-” for drinking water systems, which face an annual shortfall of $11 billion to replace facilities nearing the end of their useful lives;
• A “D+” for the electric energy grid, which was mostly installed during the 1930s;
• A “D” for hazardous waste handling, with 188 u.S. cities host- ing “brownfield” sites awaiting cleanup and redevelopment and a steady decline in federal “Superfund” cleanup support to remediate the worst toxic waste sites;
• A “D-” for the state of the nation’s inland waterways. Of 257 locks still in place on the inland waterways, 30 were installed during the 1800s; 92 others are more than 60 years old, along waterways so efficient that a single barge load equals 870 over-the-road tractor- trailer loads;
• A “D-” for the levees holding back flooding on ground once used for agriculture, but now heavily holding urban and suburban devel- opments. Do we need another Katrina here?
A “D-”for wastewater systems
• A “C-” grade for public parks and recreation, because although parks, beaches and recreational facilities contribute $730 billion a year to the economy and support some 6.5 million jobs, parkland is declining in urban areas. And the national Park Service is wallowing along with a $7 billion backlog of unaddressed maintenance prob- lems.
• A “C-” for the nation’s rail system, because even though a freight train is three times more fuel-efficient than a truck, and passenger rail travel uses 20 percent less energy per mile than auto travel, growth and changes in demand are creating bottlenecks in criti- cal areas. More than $200 billion is needed through the next two decades for anticipated growth, but few improvements have been made since 2005.
A “D” for hazardous waste handling
• A “D-” for the nation’s roads, because congestion is increasing and the cost to improve is “ever rising,” while new materials and new construction technologies languish because of shortsighted public investment strategies.
• A “D” for the schools, even though spending for schools grew from 1998’s $17 billion to a peak $29 billion in 2004. The national educa- tion Association’s best estimate is that $322 billion is needed to bring the nation’s schools into good repair.
• Transit scored a solid “D,” because although its use increased by 25 percent between 1995 and 2005, nearly half of u.S households do not have access to bus or rail transit.
• Ailing wastewater systems scored a big, fat “D-” for dumping bil- lions of gallons of untreated wastewater into u.S. surface waters each year. The ePA says we need a $390 billion investment over the next 30 years.
A “D-” for drinking water systems
44 USBE&IT I Deans Edition SPRING 2010
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