Details on the ASCE Report Card The 2001 Report Card from the American Society of Civil Engineers, which gave the nation’s infrastructure a “D+” cumulative grade covering 12 categories, follows a 1998 Report Card which rated 10 categories of infrastructure an average grade of “D”.

For more information on this study, including state statistics for infrastructure and examples of local conditions of infrastructure, visit the ASCE web site at www.asce.org/reportcard.

Schools received the lowest grade among the sectors, given a “D-” by the advisory panel of 11 civil engineers. With three-quarters of all school buildings failing to provide an effective environment for learning, due to either outdated facilities or overcrowding, the situation could worsen before things improve significantly.

Energy generation and transmission scored a “D+” for this industry’s growing inability to meet the population’s demand for power. More than 10,000 megawatts (MW) of capacity need to be added each year until 2008 to keep pace with the 1.8 percent annual growth in demand. An annual shortfall of about 30 percent nationwide has occurred since 1990, as actual capacity has increased only about 7,000 MW per year.

Roads (graded "D+") and bridges (graded "C") both showed some improvement over their grades in the 1998 Report Card, benefiting from an increase in federal and local funding allocated to ease road congestion and decaying bridges. However, nearly a third of major roads are considered to be in poor or mediocre condition and 29 percent of bridges are ranked as structurally deficient or obsolete.

Transit received a grade of "C-" and aviation received a "D," mostly because both mass transit and aviation systems are struggling to meet usage demands nationwide. Transit ridership has increased by 15 percent since 1995, adding a strain despite unprecedented growth in transit systems and increased funding. Existing transportation systems such as San Francisco's BART system and Washington, D.C.'s Metro system are challenged by new commuter patterns that didn't exist and were not anticipated when the systems were first designed and constructed. In the past 10 years, air traffic has increased 37 percent, while capacity has only increased by 1 percent. The aviation infrastructure, airports and air traffic control system and other components are not keeping up.

Wastewater, dams and drinking water, each rated a "D," are all examples of aged systems that need to be updated. Some sewer systems are 100 years old, and many drinking water systems are simply obsolete. Currently there are 2,100 unsafe dams in the U.S. that have deficiencies that leave them highly susceptible to failure. Navigable waterways, which include the nation's ports, harbor channels, and inland, intracoastal and coastal waterways, posted a grade of "D+." Together, this network of waterways moves 2.3 billion tons of commercial goods. In the past 30 years, capital investment for public water resources has decreased by 70 percent.

Effective federal regulations and enforcement moved the grade up to a "D+" for efforts to reduce hazardous waste at existing sites, but concern still remains that the number of new sites could grow. The category that was given the highest grade by the engineers, solid waste, received a "C+," up from a "C-" in the previous study. Most states have sought alternatives to dumping solid waste into landfills and are encouraging recycling, which is up nationally 50 percent since 1990, and are converting waste to energy. Approximately 17 percent of the nation's solid waste is now converted to energy.