On Wednesday, April 26th, the American Society of Civil Engineers issued its quadrennial report card for the status of infrastructure in the State of Minnesota. Despite our state’s unofficial state motto as being “above average”, the GPA Minnesota earned is “C”. As members of MGEC, we’re already keenly aware of the state’s inconsistent efforts to maintain and modernize our infrastructure, but the ASCE’s report card attempts to bring the infrastructure conversation to new audiences.
Even in 2022, many citizens narrowly associate road networks with the term “infrastructure”, but not much else. This report card seeks to broaden that understanding to other, and oftentimes interconnected, vital public assets that are essential to our quality of life. With 17 categories, including aviation (Minnesota’s highest score with a “B”!), water distribution, bridges, energy, transit, parks, ports, and wastewater, each has its own discrete grade. And each deserves attention.
Even if mostly invisible, this infrastructure matters to our daily life. And decisions regarding whether – and how much – we invest in asset management must start with a public that understands the current state of the assets.