US GETS LOW GRADES ON ITS INFRASTRUCTURE
“Every four years, the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) conducts
a study of where the United States stands in providing needed infrastructure in
various sectors. Though the organization obviously has an interest in
the creation of more construction jobs, its analyses, based as they are on
information from other studies, are taken seriously by nonpartisan experts
in the field. In the ASCE’s most recent report card, issued in 2013, the combined
sectors received an overall grade of D+. In the various sectors, the grades were:
aviation, D; bridges, C+; inland waterways, D-; ports, C; rail, C+; roads, D;
mass transit, D; schools, D; hazardous waste, D; drinking water, D. No sector
received an A. That none of the infrastructure categories received an F is hardly grounds for celebration.”
a study of where the United States stands in providing needed infrastructure in
various sectors. Though the organization obviously has an interest in
the creation of more construction jobs, its analyses, based as they are on
information from other studies, are taken seriously by nonpartisan experts
in the field. In the ASCE’s most recent report card, issued in 2013, the combined
sectors received an overall grade of D+. In the various sectors, the grades were:
aviation, D; bridges, C+; inland waterways, D-; ports, C; rail, C+; roads, D;
mass transit, D; schools, D; hazardous waste, D; drinking water, D. No sector
received an A. That none of the infrastructure categories received an F is hardly grounds for celebration.”
Drew, Elizabeth, “A Country Breaking Down,” pp:
30-32, in The New York Review, February 25, 2016.
