By Eric Sundquist
The American Society of Civil Engineers’ quadrennial U.S. Infrastructure Report Card will be released March 19, and it will be of interest to state DOTs in several ways.
For DOTs making a case for revenue, the report card, which should receive mainstream media attention, will reinforce the message that U.S. infrastructure needs attention and investment. (The report covers water and environmental infrastructure and other facilities, in addition to transportation.)
At least three other aspects also will be of interest:
- The report will not only grade infrastructure in various categories across the nation, but it also will include fact sheets on state-level infrastructure issues.
- The report will argue for “non-structural” solutions in many cases, including better synchronized transportation and land use planning, giving support to agencies working on this critical issue.
- The report will consist of a series of grades, much like many DOT dashboards, and will be released on multiple digital platforms. As such, its format may be of use to DOTs that are looking to better communicate their own performance measures to the public.
Eric Sundquist is Managing Director of SSTI.