Approved by the Infrastructure and Research Policy Committee on March 13, 2026
Approved by the Public Policy and Practice Committee on April 29, 2026
Adopted by the Board of Direction on July 21, 2026

Policy

American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) believes infrastructure investment strengthens our country’s economic competitiveness, improves our quality of life, and provides the foundation on which our communities rely to function. These investments deliver critical social, environmental, and economic benefits. ASCE supports robust, sustained infrastructure investment for all infrastructure sectors. ASCE believes that all infrastructure programs and projects supported by public funding must meet the following fundamental criteria:

  • Investments must provide substantial, long-term benefits to the public, the economy, and the environment.
  • The cost of a project over its entire life span – including designing, building, operating, and maintaining the infrastructure – must be taken into account.
  • Projects should be built sustainably, resiliently and with a systems integration perspective.
  • Federal investment should leverage state, local, and private investment, not replace these other critical sources of infrastructure funding.

Issue

As stated in the ASCE 2025 Report Card for America’s Infrastructure, America’s infrastructure is the foundation on which our national economy, global competitiveness, and quality of life depend. While often taken for granted when it is working properly, every American household or business immediately feels the impact of just one inefficiency or failure in our built environment. Our infrastructure includes an interconnected system of highways, streets, public buildings, mass transit, ports, airports, inland waterways, water systems, waste facilities, the electric grid, broadband networks, dams, levees, and other public and private facilities. Maintaining these networks is essential to meet economic demands and protect public health and safety. 

With the 2025 Report Card for America’s Infrastructure, ASCE estimates investment needs total $9.1 trillion for all 18 Report Card categories to reach a state of good repair. Public data and ASCE’s 2024 Bridging the Gap study forecast $5.4 trillion in public and private investments in the 10-year period, 2024 through 2033, if Congress continues recent funding levels. This leaves a gap of $3.7 trillion in investments for America’s infrastructure if we keep investing at current funding levels. Without continued funding levels, and considering additional $746 billion of needs for broadband, dams, levees, hazardous and solid waste, parks, and schools, the 2025 Report Card estimates an investment gap of $4.4 trillion.

Rationale

Infrastructure connects the nation’s businesses, communities, and people, driving our economy and improving our quality of life. For the U.S. economy to thrive, we need a first-class infrastructure system — transport systems that move people and goods sustainably, efficiently, and affordably by land, water, and air; energy transmission systems that deliver clean, reliable, low-cost power from a robust range of sources; and water systems that reliably and safely supply drinking water, protect water resources from pollution, and drive industrial processes. Yet today, our infrastructure systems are failing to keep pace with current and expanding needs. 

Without sustained investments, ASCE estimates meaningful economic harm: $5 trillion lost in gross economic output over 20 years, 2024-2043, and a reduction of $244 billion in U.S. exports in those same years. The reduced investments would result in hundreds of thousands of job losses and $1.9 trillion in lost disposable income for American families within the 20 years.

ASCE Policy Statement 299
First Approved in 1985