The American Society of Civil Engineers gives the U.S. a grade for everything from schools and parks to dams and levees a D. That’s the same overall grade as the last time the group gave a report, in 2005, but it really is slipping from a “high D to a low D” , said report chairman Andrew Herrmann.
America’s solid waste system was the only C+ on the report card. Bridges got a C; parks and rail systems managed C-. The only D+ plus was for energy. Solid D’s went to aviation, dams, hazardous waste, schools and public transit. The worst grades, D-, went to drinking water, inland waterways, roads and sewage systems.
The roads, public transit and aviation systems of the United States have gotten progressively worse in the last four years. Water and sewage systems are horribly outdated and failing. The basic physical infrastructure of US society is just barely above failing, the report claims.
In 2005, the engineers who wrote this report said it would cost around $1.7 trillion to fix what’s broken. Now that price tag is up to $2.2 trillion.





