Grading Up: The Path Toward A+ Infrastructure

The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) recently released its 2025 Report Card for America’s Infrastructure, revealing that America scored an overall “C” grade.

There was some encouraging news, as eight of the 18 assessed categories improved, with U.S. ports earning the highest marks – a “B” grade.

No infrastructure categories earned an “A” and two areas—stormwater and transit—struggled with “D” grades, so we sought insights from five of our leaders who explain how improvements are possible.

What will move our infrastructure grade from a “C” toward an “A”?

David Sklar: Our overall increase from a “C-” to a “C” is evidence of the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law’s impact, but sustained funding is needed to address decades of underinvestment.

From an asset management perspective, key recommendations embedded in the report card call for continued action and commitment that will allow federal, state and local agencies to reduce the backlog of needs and ensure positive future trends:

• Advocate for sustained long-term investment and secured state, federal and local funding to perform routine maintenance, inspection and replacement to keep critical infrastructure in a state of good repair.
• Encourage development of asset management plans and lifecycle maintenance plans to achieve system condition and reliability targets.
• Focus on asset condition and risk-based assessments, including advanced inspection and assessment technologies and formal reporting of state of good repair needs and backlog.
• Use interactive dashboards to tell the story of our assets and clearly demonstrate needs, priorities and impacts of investments.
• Offer greater flexibility on how states are able to spend their transportation dollars will allow them to fund their most pressing projects and react to changes in their priorities more effectively.

Coordinated planning that breaks down historic infrastructure silos is also critical to maximizing the benefit of infrastructure investments. Targeting combined outcomes from network, corridor and neighborhood-based projects can deliver more impactful capital programs that improve mobility, enhance reliability and deliver improved service level and functionality while minimizing disruption.

Sklar, senior vice president and national lead for asset management strategy, planning and transformation, was a member of the committee that developed the 2025 ASCE report card and contributed to the aviation and transit chapters.  

Virginia Lingham: The D+ rating for road infrastructure emphasizes our urgent need to improve the physical conditions of roadways and make them safer and more efficient for all road users.

Consistent capital improvements of our built environment, coupled with digitization and connectivity with intelligent transportation systems (ITS) that leverage emerging V2X (vehicle-to-everything) solutions will allow vehicles to communicate with their surroundings, including other vehicles, infrastructure, pedestrians, and networks, thereby enhancing the safety of all users. 

However, in order for technology to realize its potential and make a measurable impact, we must first build a more reliable, modern infrastructure that can support and sustain innovative advances. Reauthorization of existing infrastructure funding will be critical to maintain the necessary physical construction and provide long-term consistency of policy and proven best practices.

As our physical infrastructure improves, strategic planning to advance a modern roadway digital infrastructure will further improve safety and system operations, creating a synergy that will increase the qualitative value of the report card grade. 

Strategic investments and innovative effort will enhance traveler information systems that support better decision-making, from route selection to trip timing; incorporate innovative technologies, such as wrong-way driving alert systems; and encourage traffic management centers that are equipped to enhance mobility solutions.

Lingham, PE, senior vice president and national ITS lead, drives nationwide implementation of cutting-edge transportation technologies—helping clients unlock the full potential of V2X deployments and lead the transformation toward a smarter, safer roadway digital infrastructure.

Sarah Abdo: The betterment of infrastructure is directly correlated to the betterment of the wellbeing of people and environment.

I attended the Advanced Energy Group’s Community Action Challenge kick-off meeting in May 2024 where key leaders addressed a New York University study that found residences in South Bronx near a major expressway exhibited high rates of respiratory conditions due to increased diesel exhaust exposure primarily from trucks and buses.

Task forces were established to create a Community Agreement Roadmap for community awareness and engagement and develop a GIS data tracker to monitor medical cases, air pollution levels and vehicular traffic.

Developing federal policy to improve the health of the community and atmosphere will help improve the D grade for Transit and should include:

• research to identify high-risk communities and develop mitigation strategies,
• incentives to major corporations to replace medium- and heavy-duty diesel trucks with electric, hydrogen and natural gas fleets,
• allocation of funding for research and development to support efficient manufacturing production, and
• collaboration with utilities to provide continuous aid to customers with upgrades that support alternative fuel vehicle infrastructure.

Abdo is an electrical engineer consultant for transit and rail, primarily working on fleet electrification projects. She is currently developing an electric transit bus infrastructure study for Dutchess County Public Transit in New York.

Steve Rupar: Too often buried drinking water infrastructure means “out of sight” is “out of mind.” Utilities often struggle to meet changing water quality requirements while designing and maintaining new treatment systems. Aging underground infrastructure will become a crisis if not comprehensively addressed. 

To thoughtfully address drinking water infrastructure issues and raise its C- grade:

• Streamline programs like the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund to eliminate burdensome bureaucratic and reporting requirements that make it difficult for smaller systems and communities to apply and manage.
• Advance predictive asset management technology using artificial intelligence to better anticipate pipe failure for timelier responses to rehab and replacement work.
• Use non-invasive assessment tools to improve understanding of pipe conditions without physical samples or shutting down pipelines. Ground-penetrating radar and free-floating sensors show compromised pipes and deficiencies.
• Develop viable protective linings sprayed directly onto the interior surfaces of existing pipes to reinforce structural integrity, extend lifespan and allow for quick installation—replacing expensive rehabilitation tools that require shutdowns or bypass networks.

Rupar, PE, is senior vice president, Eastern U.S. drinking water practice leader. He is project manager for the OHM-WSP joint venture designing the Downriver Transmission Main for the Great Lakes Water Authority in Michigan.

William S. Haas: Our energy infrastructure is aging. Combined with increasing energy power demand—driven primarily by reindustrialization, data centers and electrification—the importance of infrastructure improvements, upgrades and capacity expansion becomes ever more apparent.

Infrastructure improvements require thoughtful planning, committed investments, extensive stakeholder engagement and strong leadership. To maintain and improve the capacity, reliability and resiliency of our nation’s energy infrastructure, stakeholders from government, utilities, the private sector and communities need to align common and important goals:

• Make financial commitments.
• Streamline permitting and review processes.
• Address supply chain bottlenecks.
• Support the workforce necessary to build critical infrastructure.

We must think broadly about energy generation and consider opportunities beyond the traditional grid, including renewable energy sources as well as the potential of small modular nuclear reactors.

Partnering with consultants, designers and engineers who understand this dynamic will forge connections that move projects forward, delivering impactful results. It is one of the most effective and efficient ways we can improve our D+ grade for energy infrastructure, and grades across all infrastructure categories.