Report Card On America's Infrastructure

The 2009 report card is from the American Society of Civil Engineers; I doubt the Tea Partiers can challenge the integrity of that body.

Grades, with links providing information on each specific subject, are as follows:

Aviation D

Bridges C

Dams D

Drinking Water D-

Energy D+

Hazardous Waste D

Inland Waterways D-

Levees D-

Public Parks and Recreation C-

Rail C-

Roads D-

Schools D

Solid Waste C+

Transit D

Wastewater D-

America's Infrastructure GPA: D
Estimated 5 Year Investment Need: $2.2 Trillion

How would you feel if your child came home with a report card like that?

At the site linked above, you can download a free copy of Can We Come Back From The Brink? America's Infrastructure Crisis. (You have to give a name and email address to receive a copy.) You can also download a document entitled SPECIAL REPORT: The Infrastructure Roundtables: Seeking Solutions to an American Crisis from the April 2010 issue of Civil Engineering Magazine. You can read a PDF file entitled Find Out More About Infrastructure Solutions From Five Cities Across The Country. And in Key Solutions, you can read ASCE Offers 5 Ambitious Ways To Raise The Grades.

According to Jared Bernstein in an article at HuffPo, if there was political will to spend the money, "there are 20+ million un- or underemployed, including construction workers, whose unemployment rate is about 18%."