Pennsylvania Civil Engineers Give the State’s Infrastructure a “C-” Grade
December 6, 2022
Today - December 6, 2022 - members of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), Philadelphia Section gathered with SEPTA officials to discuss the 2022 Report Card on Pennsylvania’s Infrastructure.
This report serves to highlight the status of bridges, transit structures, roadways, and other critical infrastructure across Pennsylvania and the work that needs to be done to improve conditions for safety, reliability of operations, maintenance, and capacity. The event also included the dedication of the new ASCE Philadelphia Section mural installed at Jefferson Station Section A.
The ASCE released the 2022 Report Card for Pennsylvania's Infrastructure at three congruent news conferences across the state including Harrisburg, Lehigh Valley, and Pittsburgh with 15 categories of infrastructure receiving an overall grade of a “C-”. This is the same grade issued by the council in its 2018 report.
A “C-” means Pennsylvania’s infrastructure is in mediocre condition and requires attention.
Pennsylvania’s aviation and rail networks are helping to drive economic growth in the region and an improved roadway network is helping increase efficiency for the regional and national economies but an aging infrastructure network and struggling water systems threaten the health, safety and welfare of the region.
Civil engineers graded aviation (B-), bridges (D+), dams (C), drinking water (D), energy (C), hazardous waste (B-), levees (C), parks (C+), ports (C+), rail (C), roads (C-), solid waste (C+), stormwater (D), transit (D), and wastewater (D-).
“This report shows that Pennsylvania’s infrastructure has seen some noteworthy improvements and that our lawmakers are prioritizing the built environment, but out-of-sight, out-of-mind systems such as water and wastewater pipelines are lacking the necessary attention,” said David DiGioia, chair, 2022 Report Card for Pennsylvania’s Infrastructure. “With help from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, we could improve our communities for generations if we double down on investment and close our funding gaps across all sectors included in this report.”
Tied for the highest graded category in the report - Pennsylvania’s aviation (B-) network plays a major role in the national supply chain and economy. Airports in Pennsylvania generate over $10 billion in annual payroll and over $23 billion in economic activity. Over the last four years - the state’s airports have made significant progress including implementation of Pittsburgh International Airport’s (PIT) Terminal Modernization Program, the expansion and planned expansion of cargo facilities, and a focus on resiliency projects including a micro-grid at PIT and a solar field at Northeast Philadelphia Airport (PNE). These investments led aviation to see a bump in grades from the “C+” it received in the 2018 report.
Pennsylvania’s rail (C) category saw its grade increase from a “C-“ in 2018 and is the sum of the thriving freight rail network (B) and the passenger rail network (C-) which is hampered by a major funding gap. Most of Pennsylvania’s 6,700 mile freight rail network - which carried an estimated 194 million tons of freight in 2017 - is in good to excellent condition and is primarily funded by private operators. In 2019 - Amtrak intercity service served approximately 6.7 million riders in Pennsylvania. Amtrak and the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) have recently completed several major projects including the new Wawa Station and along the Amtrak Keystone Corridor between Harrisburg and Philadelphia.
The Report Card was created as a public service to citizens and policymakers to inform them of the infrastructure needs in their state. Civil engineers used their expertise and school report card-style letter grades to condense complicated data into an easy-to-understand analysis of Pennsylvania’s infrastructure network. ASCE State and Regional Infrastructure Report Cards are modeled after the national Infrastructure Report Card which gave America’s infrastructure an overall grade of ‘C-’ in 2021.
To view the report card and all five categories - visit https://infrastructurereportcard.org/state-item/Pennsylvania/.
