In March of 2009, the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) issued its 2009 Report Card for America’s Infrastructure (http:/www.infrastructurereportcard.org) and assigned a cumulative grade of “D” for the nation’s infrastructure. ASCE determined that $2.2 trillion is needed over a five year period to bring the nation’s infrastructure up to an acceptable level. In response to ASCE’s assessment, the very same year, BSCES developed Raising the Grade in Massachusetts a brochure with nine Action Steps to improve infrastructure in our Commonwealth.
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts has taken important steps towards improving our infrastructure in the past couple years, such as dedicating $3 billion to accelerated bridge repair, streamlining bureaucracy by implementing landmark transportation reform, and utilizing American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funds to improve the state’s water and wastewater infrastructure (Download and view the 2010 and 2011 Progress Reports for more details). Despite these advances, much more still needs to be done. Investing in the Commonwealth’s infrastructure will create new jobs, ensure our economic prosperity, protect the environment and, most importantly, protect the health and safety of our citizens.
BSCES works with other associations and groups to improve infrastructure in Massachusetts by being one of the most active members of the Massachusetts Infrastructure Investment Coalition (MIIC). BSCES has contributed to the development of a number of the MIIC Infrastructure Status Reports to help increase awareness.
|
