Project

Failure to Act: The Economic Impact of Current Investment Trends in Surface Transportation Infrastructure, 2011

For the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), EDR Group (now EBP) prepared a four-part economic report series, showing the economic consequences of continued underinvestment in our Nation's infrastructure, and the economic gains that could be made by 2020. EDR Group's first report in the series, "The Economic Impact of Current Investment Trends in Surface Transportation Infrastructure," was released by ASCE in July 2011 and found that our deteriorating infrastructure will cost the American economy more than 876,000 jobs and suppress the growth of our GDP by $897 billion by 2020.

Surface transportation infrastructure includes the critical highways, bridges, railroads, and transit systems that enable people and goods to access the markets, services, and inputs of production essential to America’s economic vitality. EDR Group's analysis included (a) estimation of the difference between current investment levels and those required to maintain infrastructure performance levels in the future, and (b) the long-term macroeconomic consequences of underinvesting in infrastructure, in terms of effects on American economic competitiveness and growth of jobs and income.

The second report in the series, Failure to Act: The Economic Impact of Current Investment Trends in Water and Wastewater Treatment Infrastructure, focuses on the pipes, treatment plants, pumping stations, and other infrastructure that make up the nation’s public drinking-water and wastewater systems. The third report, Failure to Act: The Economic Impact of Current Investment Trends in Electricity Infrastructure, examines ways that households and business will face higher costs if sufficient electricity generation, transmission and distribution systems are not available in the future. The fourth report, Failure to Act: The Economic Impact of Current Investment Trends in Airports, Inland Waterways and Marine Ports Infrastructure, focuses on the pipes, treatment plants, pumping stations, and other infrastructure that make up the nation’s public drinking-water and wastewater systems. Following release of the four reports, a Failure to Act summary report that looks at infrastructure overall was released as well.