ANNAPOLIS, Md. – The Maryland Section of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) released the 2025 Report Card for Maryland’s Infrastructure today, assigning 13 categories of infrastructure which affect all Marylanders a cumulative grade of ‘C’, the same grade Maryland received in 2020. A ‘C’ grade means Maryland’s infrastructure is performing adequately to meet current needs, but additional investment is needed to ensure the long-term success of infrastructure systems. The ‘C’ grade also matches the national infrastructure grade from the 2025 Report Card for America’s Infrastructure.

Maryland’s dams, ports, rail, solid waste, and stormwater infrastructure all saw grade increases, while the state’s aviation, bridge, energy, and road grades dropped. The 2025 report card also includes the first ever assessment of Maryland’s hazardous waste infrastructure.

“The American Society of Civil Engineers infrastructure report card is an important pulse check on our nation’s infrastructure,” said Maryland Delegate Marc Korman, chair, Maryland General Assembly’s Environment & Transportation Committee. “It is great to have Maryland-specific insights so we can see where investments have paid off and where more need to be made as we work towards safe, sustainable, and economically critical infrastructure.”

Grades for each category are below:

Grade Categories
B Ports, Solid Waste
B- Bridges, Rail
C+ Aviation, Hazardous Waste, Stormwater, Wastewater
C Dams, Drinking Water
C- Roads
D+ Energy, Transit

“Maryland’s infrastructure drives the state’s economy and enables public health, safety, and welfare. These systems are interconnected, and investing in infrastructure benefits all Marylanders,” said Sarah Taylor, president, ASCE Maryland Section. “As leaders across the state look to the future, it is crucial they act to improve our infrastructure and invest now in systems that are capable of handling future growth and are prepared to keep working during more frequent and increasingly severe weather events, and natural or human-caused disasters.”

Roads and bridges in Maryland both saw one level grade decreases compared to the 2020 report card. The bridge grade fell to a ‘B-’ in the 2025 report card, which is higher than the national ‘C’ grade. While the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in March 2024 was the most notable event involving a bridge in Maryland since the last report card, it is not the primary factor in the grade decrease. However, it did serve as a sobering reminder of how an infrastructure failure has wide-ranging impacts on communities. Most notably the tragic deaths of six people working on the bridge, and the economic impact caused by the loss of the bridge and temporary closure of the Port of Baltimore on families and businesses in Maryland and across the nation.  

The state’s bridge inventory is aging, and by 2030, 57% of the state’s bridges will be more than 50 years old, and 23% will be more than 75 years old. Most bridges have a 50-to-70-year design life, which means many bridges in the state will soon need rehabilitation or replacement. Maryland has implemented an asset management plan to help determine which bridges are in most urgent need of repair and replacement. However, work to improve bridge infrastructure in the future also faces challenges as construction costs increase and the state’s gas tax loses purchasing power as drivers switch to more fuel-efficient vehicles.

Maryland’s roads fell to a ‘C-’ in the 2025 report card, compared to a ‘C’ in 2020. Maryland drivers spend approximately 9% of their time on roads stuck in congestion, which costs drivers approximately $5.6 billion annually. Approximately 49% of major roads in the state are in mediocre or poor condition, and the number of roads in poor condition are expected to double in the coming years due to budget shortfalls. As Maryland works to improve its roads, the state faces challenges completing projects on time, with only 31% of projects delivered as scheduled.

“I applaud the Maryland Section of the American Society of Civil Engineers who volunteered their time and talents to develop the 2025 Report Card for Maryland’s Infrastructure,” said Sen. Brian Feldman, D-Montgomery. “I look forward to reviewing the findings with my colleagues in the General Assembly.”

Maryland’s ports improved one step to a ‘B’ grade, matching the national ports grade. The Port of Baltimore processed 46 million tons of cargo in 2024, which is a decrease from 53 million tons in 2023. The temporary closure of the Port of Baltimore due to the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse caused a drop in cargo volume. Port operations in Maryland support 273,000 jobs across the state and are responsible for 12% of the state’s gross domestic product (GDP). The port is working to improve operational efficiency with upgrades to the Howard Street Tunnel, which will enable double-stack rail cars to get cargo to and from the port. The Port of Baltimore also has $1.6 billion in capital upgrades planned   over the next six years.

As energy demands increase across the state, Maryland’s energy infrastructure needs improvement, with the grade falling to a ‘D+’.  Maryland generates less energy than it uses and ranks fifth in the country in the percentage of energy imported from other states. The state has no new coal, oil, gas, or nuclear generation infrastructure planned for the next five years, and older energy generation facilities are approaching their end of life. If Maryland does not take action to address future energy needs, the state risks an increase in power outages during peak demand periods and storm events. 

All three forms of water infrastructure in Maryland are performing better than their national counterparts, with drinking water, storm water, and wastewater receiving grades better than the national report card. However, Maryland still has an estimated $10 billion in drinking water needs in the coming decades, which is much higher than current funding levels. Approximately 25% of the state’s water infrastructure is more than 50 years old and is approaching the end of service life, and water operators face growing costs to replace lead service lines and new regulations to reduce levels of forever chemicals and emerging contaminants in drinking water. 

The report includes recommendations to improve the grade:

• Establish Sustainable Funding Mechanisms: Transitioning from fuel taxes to more sustainable models, such as vehicle miles traveled, expanding user fees, and leveraging federal partnerships and programs are critical to closing funding gaps across aviation, roads, transit, and water systems and ensuring long-term financial viability.

• Prioritize Resilience and Redundancy: The Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse demonstrated how one failure can ripple across systems. Maryland must invest in backup capacity, resilient design, and disaster preparedness across all sectors – especially bridges, ports, energy, and water infrastructure.

• Modernize Aging Systems and Promote Innovation and Technology Adoption for a Growing Population: Roads, transit, and energy and waste systems must be upgraded to meet the demands of a larger, more mobile, and increasingly electrified population. This includes reducing congestion, improving transit reliability, expanding electric grid capacity, and scaling treatment, recycling, and reuse programs. Smart technologies, predictive maintenance tools, and emerging treatment methods should be incentivized to improve efficiency and safety.

• Protect the Chesapeake Bay through Integrated Water Management: Investments in stormwater, wastewater, and drinking water systems must be coordinated to reduce pollution and enhance resilience to extreme weather. Asset management, climate risk assessments, and green infrastructure should be prioritized.

• Strengthen Workforce and Public Engagement: Emphasizing workforce pipelines, such as expanding apprenticeship programs, improving public education on dam safety and recycling, and enhancing emergency response coordination will build capacity and public trust.

• Enhance Coordination and Delivery: Streamlining project delivery, consolidating utilities, and adopting alternative procurement methods will reduce costs and improve timelines, especially in transit and rail sectors.

The report card was created as a public service to inform citizens and policymakers about the infrastructure needs in Maryland. Civil engineers use their expertise and school report card-style letter grades to condense complicated data into an easy-to-understand analysis of Maryland’s infrastructure network. ASCE State report cards are modeled after the Report Card for America’s Infrastructure, which is released once every four years. The 2025 Report Card for America’s Infrastructure assigned America’s infrastructure a ‘C’ grade, the highest national grade in the report card’s history.


About the American Society of Civil Engineers

Founded in 1852, the American Society of Civil Engineers represents more than 160,000 civil engineers worldwide and is America's oldest national engineering society. ASCE works to raise awareness of the need to maintain and modernize the nation's infrastructure using sustainable and resilient practices, advocates for increasing and optimizing investment in infrastructure, and improve engineering knowledge and competency. For more information, visit www.asce.org or www.infrastructurereportcard.org and follow us on Twitter, @ASCETweets and @ASCEGovRel.