“America’s infrastructure picture certainly looks bleak. In urban areas, roadway congestion tops 40 percent. The number of high hazard dams—dams that, should they fail, pose a significant risk to human life—has increased by more than 3,000 just since 2007. Thirty percent of America’s children attend school in overcrowded classrooms. However, a report released today by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) shows that with ingenuity and the right amount of commitment on the part of the nation’s leaders and the American people, the infrastructure crisis we face is a solvable problem.

On January 28, 2009, ASCE released the most recent grades from its Report Card for America’s Infrastructure, assigning the nation’s roads, bridges, water systems and other critical foundations a cumulative grade of D and noting a fiveyear investment need of $2.2 trillion. Today’s comprehensive Report Card examines the basis for those failing grades, while at the same time offering an array of solutions—national, local and personal—for how the nation can repair and revitalize the infrastructure systems it depends on. The report is accompanied by an in depth Web site that offers statelevel infrastructure data on a variety of subjects, including needed drinking water investment, number of deficient bridges and number of high hazard dams that lack an emergency action
plan, as well as suggested ways for individuals to take action.”