Waterways Council, Inc., (WCI) has received the 2013 Report Card for America’s Infrastructure from the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) and the inland waterways have received a grade of D-.
The Report Card assesses the condition of a number of the nation’s infrastructure systems, including the inland waterways, and is released every four years. Each category is evaluated based upon capacity, condition, funding, future need, operation and maintenance, public safety, resilience and innovation.
Although ASCE’s Report Card says, “Our nation’s inland waterways and rivers are the hidden backbone of our freight network,”America’s inland waterways infrastructure grades have gone from a D+ in 2001 to D- in 2005 and 2009. America’s cumulative infrastructure G.P.A. is a D+.
WCI President Michael J. Toohey said, “While this gradeis not surprising since the nation has not properly invested in the inland waterways infrastructure, it is still disappointing. There is, however, momentum within Congress now to make meaningful changes to increase funding for lock and dams and we remain hopeful about that.”
The full report card is available at www.infrastructurereportcard.org.