Engineers' group gives N.H. infrastructure a grade of C-
Staff and press release info included
CONCORD, N.H. - The New Hampshire Section of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) today released its 2017 Report Card for New Hampshire Infrastructure, giving the state's infrastructure an overall grade of "C-." A team of professional engineers from across New Hampshire assessed and graded 12 categories of infrastructure, including Aviation (C+), Bridges (C-), Dams (C-), Drinking Water (C-), Energy (C+), Hazardous Waste (C), Ports (D+), Rail (C-), Roads (C-), Solid Waste (C+), Stormwater (D+), and Wastewater (D+). The report was last released in 2011, and graded the state's infrastructure a "C." "New Hampshire's infrastructure is living on borrowed time thanks to past generations' investments," said Logan Johnson, chair of the Report Card for New Hampshire's Infrastructure. "We're not investing in the maintenance and modernization our infrastructure needs to support a thriving economy, and instead we're paying the price in other ways." Meanwhile, Milton and Lebanon have both been touched by this seeming inertia as both New Hampshire and Maine have been slogging along now for five years regarding replacement of the New Bridge Road bridge that connects both town over the Northeast Channel. With Milton and Lebanon both trying to step up to the plate with town money, it's hoped it will be replaced fiscal year 2019-2020. As expected, the 2017 Report Card for New Hampshire's Infrastructure finds that much of the state's infrastructure requires investment and upgrades to keep up with its needs. Of note:
The 2011 Report Card included a grade for School infrastructure. Because of a lack of recent available data on the condition of New Hampshire public school infrastructure, this section was not included in the new Report Card. Given these infrastructure challenges, the New Hampshire Section of the American Society of Civil Engineers urges action to raise the grades, including:
The Report Card for New Hampshire's Infrastructure was created as a public service to citizens and policymakers of the state to inform them of the infrastructure needs in their community. By using school report card letter grades, civil engineers used their expertise to condense complicated data into an easy-to-understand analysis. ASCE State and Regional Infrastructure Report Cards are modeled after the national infrastructure grading system, which gave the United States an infrastructure grade of D+ last month. To view the full New Hampshire report, visit http://www.infrastructurereportcard.org/new-hampshire.
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