Closing the Infrastructure Gap

Since 1998, the American Society of Civil Engineers Report Card for America’s Infrastructure has shown that we are underinvesting in our infrastructure. Most recently, ASCE estimates that a $4.59 trillion infrastructure investment is required by 2025 of which $2 trillion is currently unfunded. To help close the investment gap for the future, ASCE has created the Grand Challenge goal, which runs through the year 2025.

While we must continue to make the compelling case for new infrastructure funding sources and additional infrastructure funding from traditional sources, the ASCE Grand Challenge is designed to encourage creative, supplemental approaches to our industry’s practices that will help to narrow the infrastructure funding gap.

Closing the gap graph

 

Our policy and funding advocacy are no less important than in the past.  However, they cannot close the gap alone. We must do what our profession alone is uniquely qualified to do. We must lead the significant improvement in the delivery and life cycle performance of infrastructure investments through innovation spurred on by performance based standards; increased focus on life cycle performance, especially through life cycle cost analysis, and enhanced resilience.