On October 13, ASCE hosted Making the Grade: Roads and Bridges, a webinar examining the findings of the 2025 Report Card for America’s Infrastructure and exploring how system owners are addressing persistent transportation challenges through investment, innovation, resilience, and improved asset management. Moderated by Katherine Kortum from ASCE’s Committee on America’s Infrastructure, the discussion brought together experts from transportation research and state government as well as engineering and construction firms to elevate solutions being implemented in the built environment.
Roads and Bridges Show Progress, but Challenges Remain
The 2025 Report Card for America’s Infrastructure showed encouraging improvement, with the nation’s overall infrastructure grade rising from a C- to a C, the highest grade awarded since the report card began in 1998.
Roads improved from a D to a D+, supported by increased federal investment and improved pavement conditions. The percentage of major roads in poor or mediocre condition declined from 43% to 39%. However, safety concerns, traffic congestion, and long-term funding shortfalls continue to challenge transportation agencies nationwide.
Bridges maintained a C grade, reflecting the reality that while funding has increased, improving the condition of a large and aging inventory takes time. Agencies continue to face difficult decisions about when to rehabilitate, preserve, or replace structures while balancing resilience and lifecycle costs.
Despite recent investments, ASCE estimates a funding gap of approximately $684 billion for roads and $373 billion for bridges over the next decade.
The Cost of Deferred Investment
Rocky Moretti, Policy Director at TRIP, highlighted the economic impacts of underinvesting in transportation infrastructure.
TRIP’s research shows that deficient roads, congestion, and roadway safety challenges impose hundreds of billions of dollars in annual costs on Americans through vehicle operating expenses, delays, and crashes. Moretti emphasized that investments in modernized infrastructure not only improve mobility but also save lives.
In both Texas and Missouri, significant state investments have produced measurable benefits. Texas transportation investments have reduced congestion, improved safety, and generated billions of dollars in annual user benefits. Missouri recently committed to rebuilding the full length of Interstate 70, recognizing the corridor’s critical role in supporting economic growth and freight movement.
Both inflation and aging infrastructure continue to strain state transportation programs, making long-term funding solutions increasingly important.
Lessons in Resilience from Hurricane Helene
Patrick Norman, Chief Engineer for the North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT), provided firsthand lessons from Hurricane Helene, which caused unprecedented damage across western North Carolina and tested every aspect of the agency’s resilience strategy.
NCDOT’s response was guided by a resilience framework adopted years before the storm, emphasizing the ability to anticipate, prepare for, respond to, and recover from disruptive events.
Flood prediction tools, drone technology, rapid-deployment bridges, advanced modeling, and diverse contracting approaches helped accelerate recovery efforts after more than 9,400 transportation damage sites were identified. The storm has resulted in an estimated transportation damage cost exceeding $6.6 billion.
NCDOT’s experience showed the importance of risk-based decision making. Rather than applying a single design standard across all damaged facilities, the agency evaluated corridors based on their importance, vulnerability, and recovery needs. For highly critical routes such as Interstate 40 through the Pigeon River Gorge, NCDOT is pursuing more robust and resilient reconstruction strategies designed to withstand future extreme events.
Delivering More with Limited Resources
Erick Fry, Transportation Design Corporate Service Line Leader at KCI Technologies, discussed how agencies can maximize infrastructure investments through innovative design solutions.
As construction, right-of-way, and labor costs continue to increase, transportation agencies are increasingly evaluating alternatives that deliver comparable operational performance at significantly lower cost.
Innovative intersection designs, diverging diamond interchanges, displaced left turns, multimodal accommodations, and context-sensitive planning can improve safety and mobility while reducing overall project costs. Infrastructure owners are also increasingly adopting a Safe System Approach, which focuses on designing roadways to reduce the likelihood and severity of crashes. Further, strategies such as protected bicycle facilities, roundabouts, improved lighting, pedestrian accommodations, and traffic calming measures are helping agencies create safer transportation networks for all users.
Improving Performance Through Maintenance and Operations
Paul Staton, President of the Infrastructure Division at Webber, focused on the critical role of operations and maintenance in ensuring transportation system performance.
The presentation emphasized how transportation agencies must balance investments in new capacity with the preservation of existing assets. Effective maintenance can extend asset life, improve reliability, and reduce the need for costly future reconstruction.
A highlight was Tennessee’s use of performance-based asset maintenance contracts, which establish measurable service standards and hold contractors accountable for achieving them. Early results have demonstrated significant improvements in roadside conditions, drainage systems, signage, and overall asset performance.
Also discussed was the importance of worker safety, technology adoption, and continuous improvement practices, including connected vehicle technologies, advanced collision avoidance systems, enhanced training programs, and innovations that help protect both maintenance workers and the traveling public.
Looking Ahead
Panelists provided key approaches to sustainable infrastructure which depends on making informed investment decisions, embracing innovation, prioritizing resilience, preserving existing assets, and clearly communicating transportation needs and benefits to the public.
View slides used during this program here.
A special thank you to KCI for their sponsorship of the event!