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The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASC) has created a very interesting set of "Infrastructure Report Cards" for the nation and the fifty states.

They give the nation a D and highlight the following issues here in Massachusetts:

• 56% of Massachusetts’ bridges are structurally deficient or functionally obsolete.

• There are 303 high hazard dams in Massachusetts. A high hazard dam is defined as a dam whose failure would cause a loss of life and significant property damage.

• 246 of Massachusetts’ 1,630 dams are in need of rehabilitation to meet applicable state dam safety standards.

• 18% of high hazard dams in Massachusetts have no emergency action plan (EAP). An EAP is a predetermined plan of action to be taken including roles, responsibilities and procedures for surveillance, notification and evacuation to reduce the potential for loss of life and property damage in an area affected by a failure or mis-operation of a dam.
• Massachusetts’ drinking water infrastructure needs an investment of $8.56 billion over the next 20 years.
• 41% of Massachusetts’ major roads are in poor or mediocre condition.

• Vehicle travel on Massachusetts’ highways increased 41% from 1990 to 2007.

• Massachusetts needs to come up with an additional $15 - $19 billion over the next two decades for maintenance on existing transportation assets.
• Massachusetts has $3.16 billion in wastewater infrastructure needs.

Source: American Society of Civil Engineers, http://www.infrastructurereportcard.org/state-page/massachusetts

Given that we are experiencing what can fairly be described as a blue collar depression, have thousands of unemployed construction workers desperately searching for work and the Feds can borrow money at historically low interest rates, it is high time we started to deal with these problems.

Doing so would not only help put people back to work,  the product of their work would enhance the capacity of our nation to grow more rapidly. This needs to happen if we are to deal effectively with our existing and looming fiscal challenges (read pay back all the money we are borrowing).  It would also improve public safety, public health and the quality of life in our nation (always a nice bonus).

President Obama recently proposed the formation of a national infrastructure bank which represents an important first step in this direction.  However, the ASC estimates that the US has $2.2 trillion dollars in infrastructure investments to make and so, while his proposed initial investment of $50 billion will certainly help, it appears we are a very long way from where we need to be.