The current recession has put hundreds of thousands
of Americans out of work and left critical infrastructure improvements across
the country incomplete. The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) strongly
supports the ambitious plan proposed by President-elect Barack Obama to combat unemployment and foster continued
economic growth through infrastructure investment. This investment will create
and sustain jobs, and begin to address the nation’s crumbling infrastructure if
appropriately applied to areas that most require federal support. As an important
step to bolstering our nation’s economic stability, this short-term stimulus
package must supplement, rather than replace, long-term solutions such as
regular appropriations and scheduled reauthorizations that will ultimately
restore America’s world-class infrastructure.
ASCE has long been an advocate for improving and
maintaining the nation’s infrastructure. The last ASCE Report Card for America’s
Infrastructure, issued in 2005, rated the overall condition of the nation’s
infrastructure a grade of “D” and recommended spending $1.6 trillion over five years
to bring the condition up to an acceptable level. Since that time federal
funding has fallen far below that recommended level, and early indications are
that the grades will not be markedly improved for the 2009 Report Card, which
will be released on March 25, 2009.
ASCE believes that all projects supported by an
economic stimulus investment must meet the following fundamental criteria:
- Projects must create and sustain employment
increases;
- Investments must provide long term benefits to
the public (such as congestion relief);
- Long term maintenance and upkeep needs of all
infrastructure projects – existing and new – must be taken into account; and
- To ensure accountability and transparency an
auditing program must be established to review the program and measure desired
outcomes.
As the investments are made, proper attention must be
paid to the prioritization and selection of these projects to ensure that the
criteria are met. The following principles should guide selection decisions:
- The project should deliver measurable
improvements in public health, safety and quality of life;
- The project should provide substantial,
broad-based economic benefit;
- The project should be designed and built in a
sustainable and cost-effective manner, and proper consideration must be given
to life-cycle costs; and
The project should have a significant
environmental benefit such as area restoration, improved air quality through
reduced congestion and better watershed management through eliminating
vulnerabilities in a system.