In its latest Infrastructure Report, the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) gave the United States a C- , citing its dilapidated public roads, aging bridges and deteriorating water networks.
The 2021 rating marked an improvement over 2017, when the ASCE rated the US infrastructure with a D +.
When the organization publishes its next report card in 2025, the United States will seek significant improvement following the $ 1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill that President Joe Biden signed last November.
Much of the responsibility for implementing the new law lies with the jurisdiction of Transport Secretary Pete Buttigieg. The 40-year-old former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, spoke with 60 Minutes correspondent Anderson Cooper for a story to be aired this Sunday.
Eric Kerchner / 60 minutes
During the extensive interview, Buttigieg explained where the American people will first see their tax money run.
“I think one of the first things you’ll notice is the accelerated work on roads and bridges,” Buttigieg told Cooper. “It’s not just the big, famous bridges in our biggest cities. It’s thousands of bridges across the country.”
Cooper’s interview with Buttigieg comes more than seven years after 60 Minutes last presented a major report on the collapse of infrastructure in the US
“Our infrastructure is vital support right now,” former Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood told correspondent Steve Kroft in 2014. He held the position during Obama’s first administration.
In January 2022, Mr. Biden echoed LaHood’s sentiment on the state of US infrastructure. “amazing” hours before a planned trip to Pittsburgh, a city bridge collapsed and injured ten people. This is not a new problem.
At the time of Kroft’s story, the federal government said there were about 70,000 structurally deficient bridges across the country, including about 800 around Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Since the Kroft report was issued, there have been numerous projects to repair or replace sick bridges around the City of Steel. The refurbishment of Seventh Street Bridge and Birmingham Bridge was completed in 2017. Repairs to Liberty Bridge, one of the city’s main arteries, were completed in 2018.
The report also highlighted New Jersey’s North Bridge Portal. Prior to the pandemic, more than 450 commuter trains used the 112-year-old revolving bridge every day. Considered a single point of failure, the bridge sometimes did not lock back in place, causing significant delays up and down the northeast corridor. Construction of a fixed bridge over the Hackensack River with two new tracks is scheduled to begin later this year.
In Philadelphia, Kroft reported on a busy stretch of I-95 that needed repair. These improvements are underway and are expected to continue at least until 2028.
The unmistakable orange construction signs along I-95 will soon appear on the roads around the Philadelphia I-95 corridor in the United States — only a small portion of the 43% of U.S. roads that the U.S. 2021 of the American Society of Civil Engineers said it needs to be fixed. .
How will Secretary Buttigieg and the Department of Transportation determine what precedent repairs? Tune in for 60 minutes on Sunday.
60 Minutes airs on Sundays at 7/6 CT on CBS.
The previous story was produced by James Jacoby, Michael Karzis and Maria Gavrilovic.
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