Just days away from the release of ASCE’s 2025 Report Card for America’s Infrastructure, there is no better way to chronicle the report’s impact than by reviewing the events of 2021.
As has long been the case, the infrastructure report card was issued in the wake of a presidential inauguration. Joe Biden took office on Jan. 20, 2021; on March 3, the report card was released, assigning America’s infrastructure an overall grade of C-.
Though it was the highest grade ever issued by ASCE, the document’s executive summary noted that more investment was needed. “The good news is that closing America’s infrastructure gap is possible with big, bold action from Congress, continued financial support from states and localities, and smart investments and management by infrastructure owners,” the summary read.
Further reading:
- ‘It doesn’t have to be like this:’ The ASCE infrastructure report card as a resilience tool before disaster strikes
- How ASCE’s infrastructure report card gets made
- Texas infrastructure grade remains a C
Apparently the message resonated. On Nov. 15, Biden signed into law the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, the biggest infrastructure investment in U.S. history: $1.2 trillion over five years.
What impact will the 2025 report card have when it is released March 25? It is certain to reach into the meeting rooms of major media outlets whose reports will then be disseminated to the general public. Ultimately, it is certain to again ring through the halls of Congress.
Maria C. Lehman, P.E., ENV SP, F.ASCE, has been associated with ASCE’s report card from the start, representing the Society at the unveiling of its first report card at the National Press Club in 1998. She served on the Committee on America’s Infrastructure, which produces the report card, for the 2013, 2021, and 2025 editions. She also served as vice chair on the President’s National Infrastructure Advisory Council, as appointed by Biden.
In short, Lehman, who was ASCE’s 2023 president, is highly familiar with just how far reaching the report card is. She has had “thousands of conversations – with elected and appointed officials, industry leaders, and (media members) – since the IIJA was passed.” Each one has been positive, she added.
“The report card has evolved into the go-to report on U.S. infrastructure,” Lehman said. “Elected officials from local, regional, state, and federal (governments) all have an awareness and respect for what we do, as well as media across the spectrum. Even the financial industry uses the report card when making infrastructure decisions.”
A format that registers
Darren Olson, P.E., BC.WRE, M.ASCE, is committee chair for the 2025 report card. He took the reins after serving as vice chair for the 2021 version. He notes the report card has been referenced everywhere from “State of the Union (addresses) by presidents to the Daily Show and everything in between.”
The key to its effectiveness is its presentation in a format that resonates with everyone. While the thoroughness of the report card is informative for those who are building, maintaining, and improving infrastructure and those in position to divvy out money for it, arriving at a final overall letter grade makes it a report that everybody can appreciate.
“The report card is a simple way to communicate the state of our infrastructure to people, where everyone can understand,” Olson said. “We’re talking in a language that our parents can understand, our kids can understand, the people that are on our city council or county board can understand. They’re all able to understand it because of the way we put together the report card in a format that is something that we’ve all either brought home to our parents or have had brought home to us.”
Lehman also sees the report card and other ASCE efforts such as Bridging the Gap, which highlights how infrastructure investment affects U.S. households and business, as ways to keep the spotlight on an important issue.
“The general public can relate to a report card format, and while infrastructure is still not top of mind, they certainly understand when we release reports like Bridging the Gap or the report card or when some failure brings infrastructure back to something they focus on,” she said.
The forerunner to the report card was Fragile Foundations: A Report on America’s Public Works, a report by the government-appointed National Council on Public Works Improvement in 1988. ASCE grabbed the baton, publishing its first Report Card for America’s Infrastructure in 1998, then settling into a four-year cycle beginning in 2001.
Its visibility has only grown with each issuance.
“It was critically important for ASCE to set a baseline, revisit it to see what we did well and what needs improvement,” Lehman said. “The basic management tenet is that if you can't measure something, you can't improve it. In the 1990s, ASCE recognized that we needed a tool if we were to get public awareness to a level where people would want more investment.
“The impact on our profession and the construction industry has been increased funding (and) more stable project advancement, which creates a more efficient and effective delivery of infrastructure projects.”
Like Lehman, Casey Dinges, former senior managing director of government relations at ASCE, was there from the start, helping shepherd the report card from infancy to Capitol Hill staple. When then-President Bill Clinton quoted the report card during a television appearance, Dinges says, it was a flash point in the report card’s burgeoning gravitas.
“Every major study or media report about infrastructure over time would quote the report card, as did senators, congressmen, and key government leaders,” Dinges said. “It became so ubiquitous that the media was convinced we released the report annually instead of every four years.”
It all leads to better infrastructure, which, in turn, makes for a safer society, which is the ultimate goal of the report card.
Driving the conversation
Olson says civil engineers should feel satisfaction over the next few days when listening to news coverage of the report card. That satisfaction stems from putting the infrastructure issue before the American people in the absence of tragedy.
“It is not often that our infrastructure is in the headlines without there being a failure,” he said. “The whole purpose of our report card is to bring the state of our infrastructure into the conversation before it fails.”
Olson says civil engineers across the U.S. are familiar with the report card, appreciate the exhaustive work that goes into it, and are grateful for the benefits it brings. He also says he consistently hears a refrain from those in his life who are not in civil engineering: “I’ve heard of the report card!”
And that speaks to the effectiveness of it.
“The report card can have a huge impact on society,” Olson said. “It takes the current status of our infrastructure, which is something that every American relies on each day but may not fully understand and boils it down to a letter grade that is easily digestible by the public and elected officials. … It has provided the tools to our elected officials that has led to them passing some very significant infrastructure legislation in the past four years.”
ASCE's John Marston contributed to this report.
