If America's infrastructure were a student, it would have spent the last several months in summer school. Two years after receiving an overall grade of D+ in the American Society of Civil Engineers' (ASCE) 2001 Report Card for America's Infrastructure, the situation has not improved. In fact, the ASCE didn't even bother to post grades in its 2003 report as neither the infrastructure's condition nor its performance have changed in the last two years.

Roads and bridges are still below standard, says the ASCE. A study by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials suggests that government funding levels would have to leap 94 percent—to $125 billion—in order to reach the "Cost to Improve" level. ASCE also is urging Congress to reauthorize the Transportation Equity Act for the 21^st Century (TEA-21), the infrastructure funding legislation that was set to expire last month. TEA-21 includes a proposal to spend $375 billion over six years on surface infrastructure improvement—only enough to maintain existing conditions, says the Federal Highway Administration.

"It's doable," says Patrick Natale, ASCE's executive director. "That's taking the monies that are there now, that are primarily being collected in user fees—the gas tax—and continuing to dedicate those funds to provide a portion of the funding. In addition, to get up to that $375 billion funding level, we're recommending a six-cent increase in the user fee," he says. "With the existing funding plus the [user fee] increase, we could reach the levels needed to make it happen."

Natale would like Congress to pay more attention to the declining state. "The major obstacle today is that our attention has been diverted by a number of issues," he says. "The turndown in the economy has been a major factor, the war in Iraq, and the concerns about terrorism in the U.S. We're looking at security issues, which are very important, but at the same time we can't lose sight of maintaining roads and bridges in a safe way for all of us."