North Carolina Gets a C- In Newest Infrastructure Report Card

The North Carolina Section of the American Society of Civil Engineers has just issued its North Carolina Infrastructure Report Card 2006.

"The Report Card evaluates North Carolina?s infrastructure in nine critical areas:

Airports,
Bridges,
Dams,
Drinking Water,
Rail,
Roads,
Schools,
Storm Water, and
Wastewater.

Overall grades were given to each category, and supporting information on existing conditions, trends and concerns, and policy options were provided, as well as recommendations for future action. The Report Card, prepared by the North Carolina Section, was modeled after the Report Card for America?s Infrastructure released by ASCE National in 2005."

This allows comparison to the 2005 national report card and those of other states. Here are the NC grades along side the national data:



The USA's Grade Point Average is D-, and makes North Carolina's C- look not so bad. So where is NC doing better than the national average? Drinking Water and Rail. However, NC is below the national average in:

BRIDGES: C-

"Thirty-two percent of North Carolina?s 17,803 highway bridges are considered structurally deficient or functionally obsolete... The cost to replace these deficient structures is estimated at approximately $8 billion."

SCHOOLS: C-

"More than 46 percent of schools will require some form of renovation in the next five years... Also, more than 190 schools will be considered obsolete in five years or less, and 13 percent of all public school students are in mobile classrooms."

Each section of the North Carolina Infrastructure Report Card had its own author(s). There was also a Report Card Committee that supported the project, and a Blue Ribbon Panel of Experts who reviewed the Report Card White Papers. Dr. H. Rooney Malcom, NCSU Professor Emeritus of Civil Engineering was a member of this Blue Ribbon Panel.