On Tuesday, October 30, the Connecticut Society of Civil Engineers released the 2018 Report Card for Connecticut’s Infrastructure, grading five of the state’s infrastructure categories: bridges, drinking water, rail, roads, and wastewater. The Report Card gave the state’s infrastructure systems an overall grade of a “C-.”
The Report Card was authored by the Connecticut Infrastructure Report Card Committee, who assigned rail with the highest grade of a “B.” The report highlights the Metro-North Railroad system which runs through the state. This is the busiest railroad system in the country with nearly 41 million annual passengers.
The Committee assigned wastewater and roads with the lowest grades of “D+.” Most of the state’s roads are in poor or fair condition, as more than half of the network is over 55 years old. Additionally, $30 billion is needed to provide roadway facilities that would meet expectations of roadway users within 30 years. Connecticut’s wastewater infrastructure is in poor condition and requires a $4.6 billion investment solely to eliminate sanitary sewer overflows.
The Connecticut Report Card offers solutions to improve the grades. Recommendations include continuing to prioritize investment in infrastructure during difficult budget cycles and modernizing and building resilient infrastructure to prepare for increasingly severe storms. State and localities of Connecticut should also increase investment in infrastructure to reduce costs for its’ residents down the road. Finally, it recommends that Connecticut residents vote ‘YES’ on the transportation lockbox amendment on November 6. A ‘yes’ vote will guarantee that all transportation funds are used solely for transportation purposes.
ASCE State and Regional Infrastructure Report Cards are modeled after the national Infrastructure Report Card, which gave America’s infrastructure a grade of “D+” in 2017.
Don’t forget to tell your elected officials about the 2018 Report Card for Connecticut’s Infrastructure!
