So far, the billions of dollars targeted at roads, bridges, mass transit, water projects and high-speed rail in 2009 have fallen far short of what the country needs.

In the United States, many road, public transit and aviation systems are either crumbling or obsolete, and U.S. water and sewage systems are in the worst shape in 100 years. In its 2009 Report Card for America’s Infrastructure, the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) graded the nation’s infrastructure a “D” average (equivalent to “poor”). Infrastructure earned the same dismal grade in 2005, but the ASCE’s estimated five-year price tag to fix it rose by $600 billion.

The state of the nation’s infrastructure may change over the next five years with the $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), which sets aside more than $132 billion for infrastructure projects of all kinds, including roads, transit, a smart energy grid and even an $8 billion down payment on high-speed passenger rail.

“To invest in transportation, environmental protection and other infrastructure that will provide long-term economic benefits” was one of the stated purposes of the ARRA, signed into law in mid-February. The ARRA and federal officials identified nine goals for the economic recovery bill’s transportation funding: 1) create and save jobs; 2) fix our crumbling infrastructure; 3) modernize the transportation system; 4) promote long‐term economic growth; 5) improve public transportation; 6) reduce energy dependence; 7) cut greenhouse gas emissions; 8) head off additional sprawl; and 9) reduce commute times and congestion.

Jobs for building, repairing, upgrading and maintaining public infrastructure will involve construction work on roads, mass transit projects, weatherization of government buildings and installation of information technology in medical facilities, among others.

In late-April, the U.S Army Corps of Engineers released a list of civil works projects to be funded by the ARRA. The list includes approximately 172 construction projects, 523 operation and maintenance projects, 45 Mississippi River and tributaries projects, 64 investigations projects and nine projects under the Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program. Regulatory Program funds are distributed to Army Corps districts based upon workload. No project on the list is a new start.

Economists estimate these projects, broadly distributed across the U.S., “will create or maintain approximately 57,400 direct construction industry jobs and an additional 64,000 indirect and induced jobs in firms supplying or supporting the construction and the businesses that sell goods and services to these workers and their families,” according to an Army Corps statement.

So far, though, states are not making as much progress as possible in spending ARRA funds. According to a new report by Washington-based Smart Growth America (SGA), of the $26.6 billion in transportation funds alone, not enough has gone toward repairing existing roads and bridges or to funding public transportation.

SGA, in conjunction with state coalition partners, released its report on the 120-day mark (June 29) detailing how well each state is handling its transportation stimulus money. Among the major findings is that almost one-third of the $6.6 billion for the ARRA Surface Transportation Program is going to new road and bridge projects despite multi-trillion-dollar backlogs on needed road repairs. Moreover, only $185 million of the $8.4 billion in ARRA funding for public transportation projects has been allocated so far.

As a result, the ARRA objectives of creating jobs and modernizing the transportation system are not being met as quickly as they could be, the report claims.

“As the pace of Recovery Act spending increases, we anticipate that by the end of September 2010, there will be 3.5 million jobs in place that have been created or retained and that we will have outlayed the $350 billion that you targeted, if not more,” Vice President Joe Biden wrote in the recently released Quarterly Report to the President on Progress Implementing the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

While a trickle of spending on infrastructure projects has already occurred, the flow of funds is just getting underway. As it gathers force, major sectors of the U.S. economy should feel the effects of the stimulus.

Yet even with the stimulus spending, more is needed. While much of the ARRA’s $787 billion is allocated to infrastructure projects and transportation, the ASCE estimates the cost of improving the nation’s infrastructure to acceptable levels is $2.2 trillion over five years.

Fortunately, those who can change U.S. efforts to fix the innumerable infrastructure problems are realizing that the ARRA investment, as large as it is, is more of a “down payment” on the country’s vast needs.

“The economic recovery legislation is designed to get us back on track, but it’s taking us back to the status quo — which is what we need right now, but not in the long-term,” says the ASCE’s Our Failing Infrastructure blog.

In a radio address to the nation on Dec. 6, 2008, then-President-elect Barack Obama stated his goals for the federal stimulus legislation: “We will create millions of jobs by making the single largest new investment in our national infrastructure since the creation of the federal highway system in the 1950s … We won’t just throw money at the problem. We’ll measure progress by the reforms we make and the results we achieve.”

More to the point, money is not the only area where the nation’s infrastructure falls short.

“Increasing our investment in infrastructure is important, but the solution will involve more than just money,” D. Wayne Klotz, ASCE president, said in a statement earlier this year.

To meet that challenge, we need a coordinated, long-range strategy from all levels of government and the private sector.

Related

Proposed Solutions to Improving Infrastructure

Does U.S. Infrastructure Make the Grade?

National Infrastructure Takes Center Stage

This Country Is Falling Apart. Literally

Resources

2009 Report Card for America’s Infrastructure
American Society of Civil Engineers, March 25, 2009

Raising America’s Infrastructure GPA: a “Study Guide”
American Society of Civil Engineers, March 25, 2009

Recovery Act-Funded Civil Works Projects Released
Army Corps of Engineers, April 28, 2009

The States and the Stimulus
Smart Growth America, June 29, 2009

120 Days In, SGA reviews the stimulus spending on transportation
by Steve Davis
Smart Growth America, June 29, 2009

Quarterly Report to the President on Progress Implementing the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009
Recovery.gov, May 2009

Economic Recovery Package Approved, Now What?
by Allison Dickert
Our Failing Infrastructure (American Society of Civil Engineers), Feb. 17, 2009

President-Elect Barack Obama Lays Out Key Parts of Economic Recovery Plan
Change.gov, Dec. 6, 2008

Recovery Act: States’ and Localities’ Current and Planned Uses of Funds While Facing Fiscal Stresses
U.S. Government Accountability Office, July 2009

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act
American Society of Civil Engineers

2009 Surface Transportation Authorization
American Society of Civil Engineers

5 Smart Ways to Fix American Infrastructure Now: Analysis
by Davin Coburn
Popular Mechanics, June 2009