California Earns a 'C' from ASCE's Latest Infrastructure Report Card
California needs an additional annual infrastructure investment of $65 billion to bring its aging systems up to date, according to conclusion of the California Infrastructure Report Card 2012 released this week by Region 9 of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE).
ASCE, which was supported in the effort by the American Public Works Association, University of California, Irvine Civil & Environmental Engineering Affiliates and the American Council of Engineering Cos., gave the state an overall grade of "C." This is the second report of its kind for California. The first report card was issued in 2006 and gave the state's infrastructure an overall grade of "C-". The slight improvement in California's overall grade, says the ASCE, can be attributed to the nearly $42 billion voter-approved infrastructure bonds in 2006.
In addition to issuing an overall grade, the report card provides an evaluation and letter grade for eight of California's critical infrastructure areas: aviation, levees/flood control, ports, solid waste, transportation, urban runoff, wastewater and water systems. The grades are:
Aviation C+
Levees/Flood Control D
Ports B-
Solid Waste B
Transportation C-
Urban Runoff D+
Wastewater C+
Water C
The ASCE says its national report card, similar to this state-focused report, rated America’s overall infrastructure as deserving a "D."
More than 100 civil engineering professionals, with specialized technical expertise in the eight infrastructure categories, volunteered to produce the report card. They analyzed technical reports, inspection records, budgets, maintenance schedules and other documents to arrive at letter grades for the infrastructure. The committee members evaluated reports on the physical conditions of the infrastructure areas, and studied funding sources and trends that impact maintenance and upgrades. In almost every category, lack of funding was cited as a reason for the low grades.
Citing potential solutions for addressing the worst grade – a "D" for levees/flood control – Paul Meyer, executive director of the American Council of Engineering Cos. of California, said that since today's engineers and construction contractors have "much better tools and much more knowledge about levees than we had when most of our levees were originally designed and constructed, [we shouldn't] wait for another life threatening disaster to happen."
"Not only is this essential for human safety, it will also be far, far cheaper to fix our levees in advance than it will be to do major clean up and repair work after a disaster," he said.
The report card can be viewed at ">www.ascecareportcard.org.
