On Tuesday, October 9, civil engineers gathered at the Minnesota State Capitol for the release of the first-ever Report Card for Minnesota’s Infrastructure. The Report Card gave the state’s infrastructure an overall GPA of “C” and evaluated and graded nine individual infrastructure categories: aviation, bridges, dams, drinking water, energy, ports, roads, transit, and wastewater.
The Minnesota Infrastructure Report Card Committee assigned aviation the highest grade of a “B.” The report notes that in 2017, Minneapolis-St. Paul (MSP) Airport and reliever airports underwent $455 million in improvements. On the other hand, Minnesota’s 140,000 miles of roads are in poor condition, earning a grade of a “D+.” The average driver in the Twin Cities spends 41 peak hours in congestion each year, averaging a cost of $1,332 in congestion costs and wasted time.
In addition to grading statewide infrastructure systems, the Report Card also offers five solutions to improve Minnesota’s infrastructure. Recommendations include providing sustainable, long-term funding to modernize and maintain the state’s transportation network, as well as implementing robust asset management programs across the infrastructure categories.
ASCE State and Regional Infrastructure Report Cards are modeled after the national Infrastructure Report Card, which gave America’s infrastructure a grade of “D+” in 2017.
A full copy of Minnesota’s Surface Transportation Report Card is available at www.infrastructurereportcard.org/state-item/minnesota.
