ABOUT THE REPORT CARD

In 1997 ASCE decided to raise the awareness and understanding of the role civil engineers play in society. At the same time, ASCE wanted to raise awareness about the declining condition of the infrastructure in the United States. To address both, they developed the first infrastructure report card, which was released in 1998 and updated in 2001. The report card reported on the condition of roads, bridges, water supplies, hazardous waste sites, solid wastes, dams, airports and wastewater and estimated the expenditures required to bring each element into a satisfactory condition.

The first report card was released to Congress and the public and, though the national infrastructure grade was “D+,” it was an immediate success. The document was used by politicians, federal and state legislators, public interest groups, associations, and many others as proof that more attention, if not money, was needed to address national infrastructure deficiencies. The Colorado Section of ASCE aims to achieve the same goals regarding infrastructure in Colorado.

Twelve major sectors of infrastructure were chosen for evaluation. In most cases, existing data was compiled by the authors. In some cases, new data was collected through phone conversations and surveys. The data was evaluated against objective grading criteria and a grade was assigned for current conditions and those expected in 2010. The reports associated with each of the sectors of infrastructure were peer reviewed by the Colorado Section of ASCE and by a group of technical experts and administrative officials.

If we delay action—if we fail to address our infrastructure problem—we are in fact going to experience a significant degradation of our quality of life. In many ways what we need to do must be markedly different from our previous actions, and that becomes an enormous challenge.