This Thursday, families across the country will sit down and give thanks for good fortunes they’ve encountered this past year. Members of our office and the infrastructure community in general have reason to be thankful for a great many things that occurred this past year or exist as a part of America’s infrastructure as a whole. Below are some of the items that our staff is thankful for this year related to our mission.
- A successful spring release of our 2013 Report Card and for our members who have tirelessly worked to spread the word in their communities.
- The House and Senate are conferencing a Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) bill.
- The 2013 Legislative Fly-In participants who helped us reach the goal of having all 50 states represented.
- The wonderful variety of State Public Affairs Grants (SPAG) projects that ASCE will be able to fund this year.
- The fact that both Maine and Texas passed ballot initiatives this past November greatly increasing infrastructure investment in their states.
- All of the state legislators we were able to educate on ASCE’s issues at the National Conference of State Legislators this past summer.
- The leadership shown on infrastructure from both sides of the aisle. Infrastructure is the rare issue where the Chamber of Commerce, American Enterprise Institute, labor unions, and environmental organizations all agree and want the same things. At ASCE, we look forward to working with all of them and more in the new year and are excited for what 2014 has in store.
It’s been a busy year, and there’s still more work to be done. We should not lose sight of the challenges ahead in adequately investing America’s infrastructure, but it’s also good to look back during a time for giving thanks.