2021年美国基础设施综合评估报告（英）-ASCE-2021-172页_7mb

2021 Report Card for America's Infrastructure Summary

Core Content

The 2021 Report Card for America's Infrastructure by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) provides a comprehensive assessment of the nation's infrastructure, highlighting both progress and persistent challenges. The report grades 17 major infrastructure categories, using a system based on capacity, condition, funding, future need, operation and maintenance, public safety, and resilience. While the overall grade has improved from a D+ in 2017 to a C-, significant gaps remain, and the need for long-term, consistent investment and modernization is urgent.

Key Findings

• Overall Grade: C- (up from D+ in 2017), indicating modest progress but still substantial challenges.
• Category Grades:
  • B: Rail
  • D-: Transit
  • Five categories improved: Aviation, Drinking Water, Energy, Inland Waterways, and Ports.
  • Stormwater received its first grade: D.
• Major Issues:
  • Maintenance backlogs persist, but asset management is helping prioritize funding.
  • State and local governments have made progress, especially in drinking water and inland waterways.
  • Data scarcity remains a challenge for sectors like schools, levees, and stormwater.
• Economic Impact:
  • Failing to close the infrastructure investment gap will cost the U.S. economy $10 trillion in GDP by 2039.
  • It will result in over 3 million jobs and $2.4 trillion in exports lost over the next 20 years.
  • The average American household will pay $3,300 annually or $63 weekly due to infrastructure failure.

Infrastructure Investment Gap

The report outlines the cumulative investment needs and funded amounts for various infrastructure systems from 2020 to 2029:

Main Recommendations

ASCE recommends a strategic and holistic approach to infrastructure renewal and investment, emphasizing the following key areas:

1. Leadership and Action

• Incentivize asset management to prioritize limited funding.
• Streamline project permitting while maintaining appropriate safeguards.
• Ensure investments are made in projects that provide critical benefits to the economy, public safety, environment, and quality of life.
• Leverage technology to maximize limited resources.
• Consider life cycle costs in project decisions.
• Support R&D of innovative materials, technologies, and processes.
• Promote sustainability by weighing long-term economic, social, and environmental benefits.

2. Investment

• Increase investment from all levels of government and the private sector to 3.5% of GDP by 2025.
• Fully fund authorized infrastructure programs.
• Charge rates that reflect the true cost of infrastructure use, maintenance, and improvement.
• Fix the Highway Trust Fund.
• Close the rural/urban resource divide through programmatic set-asides.
• Utilize public-private partnerships where appropriate.

3. Resilience

• Develop resilience pathways for all infrastructure sectors, integrating climate change projections into long-term planning.
• Incentivize and enforce codes and standards to mitigate risks from natural and man-made hazards.
• Promote a system-of-systems perspective, ensuring trade-offs across sectors are considered.
• Prioritize projects that improve system safety and community resilience.
• Enhance land use planning to balance built and natural environments.
• Integrate green infrastructure to improve resilience across sectors.

Aviation Category

• Condition: Runways at NPIAS airports are mostly in excellent, good, or fair condition (97.9%).
• Capacity: Airport infrastructure is struggling to meet the growing demand, especially in terminal buildings, access, and airfield capacity.
• Investment Needs:
  • The largest investment need is for terminal buildings (30%–50% of total needs).
  • NPIAS reports show a 62% increase in terminal building needs, 28% in pavement reconstruction, and 31% in capacity-related projects since 2019.
• Funding:
  • The Airport Improvement Program (AIP) has remained at $3.35 billion annually for over a decade.
  • The Passenger Facility Charge (PFC) remains capped at $4.50 per passenger.
  • Federal funding has increased from $11 billion to $15 billion between 2017 and 2020.
• Impact of Pandemic:
  • Passenger volumes dropped significantly in 2020, and recovery is expected to take years.
  • Cargo volumes have increased due to the rise in e-commerce.
• NextGen Implementation:
  • The FAA's NextGen system is improving air travel safety, efficiency, and predictability.
  • It replaces radar-based with satellite-based navigation and automation.
  • Despite progress, NextGen investments are taking longer than expected to translate into foundational infrastructure.

Conclusion

The 2021 Report Card shows that while the U.S. has made some progress in infrastructure, long-term, consistent investment and resilience-focused strategies are still needed. The economic and social costs of inaction are significant, and collaborative efforts from all levels of government, the private sector, and the public are essential to achieving a modern, resilient, and sustainable infrastructure system.