If the American infrastructure were someone’s child, it’d be grounded for a month and lose a year’s worth of screen privileges after bringing home a report card as poor as its latest one.
The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) recently issued its quadrennial Infrastructure Report Card, which assesses the ability to meet current and future demand. Just as in 2013, it gave the U.S. infrastructure an overall grade of D+, somewhere between “Poor, at Risk” and “Mediocre, Requires Attention.”
Source: Infrastructure Report Card
While it’s worth noting that those who create the report card are in industries that would stand to profit from infrastructure investment, there is little disputing the importance of keeping our transportation systems, energy, schools, water and waste removal, and other industries healthy and efficient for generations to come. The ASCE Committee on America’s Infrastructure, composed of 28 civil engineers from several diverse industries, oversees the report card findings. The group’s breadth of knowledge makes it highly qualified to sound the alarm over the outlook for our country’s core foundations.
Thankfully, many groups are as focused on infrastructure improvements as we are.
The U.S. Conference of Mayors this month formed a task force aimed at working with President Trump and Congress to pass an infrastructure package, TruckingInfo.com reported.
Infrastructure Week, a national education and advocacy push, kicked off May 15, and WillScot supports the cause of championing our country’s structural future. We supply modular solutions that allow businesses in every one of the many infrastructure-related industries to efficiently adapt to changing times, giving them the space they need to be able to get to work and keep working. We very much agree it’s time to build, and we exist to help make sure that time is entirely productive for our clients.
The ASCE’s Infrastructure Report Card grades 16 distinct industries, and while the results show plenty of work to be done, more industries showed marginal improvement over their 2013 grades than showed decline. Rail, which received the highest grade of “B” (though don’t tell that to New York-area commuters), improved from a “C+”. Hazardous Waste, Inland Waterways, Levees, Ports, Schools and Wastewater all saw slight improvement, while Public Parks & Recreation, Solid Waste and Transit each declined.
The report card also breaks down grades by state; the economic impact of infrastructure investment shortfalls; and ways for everyone to get involved in addressing our country’s infrastructure needs.
We at WillScot stay on top of infrastructure needs because we’re deeply involved in all of these industries. We provide storage units, mobile offices, temporary classrooms, and modular space in many other forms.
We’re working hard to ensure that we, at least, continue to make the grade for the businesses that depend on us.