2026 ASCE Pennsylvania Infrastructure Report Card Effort to Begin
The four Sections of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) in Pennsylvania will be undertaking their combined effort to create and produce the 2026 Report Card on the Commonwealth’s infrastructure in early 2025. The Report Card is issued every four years by the ASCE Pennsylvania State Council to provide a snapshot of our built environment and 2026 will mark the sixth such time this document has been produced. ASCE National also produces a Report Card on the nation’s infrastructure conditions and the next release for this document will be in 2025.
The PA Council’s Report Card Committee handles the research and document review necessary to document background information and conditions for development of the grades and backup/support materials. For the 2022 Report Card, a team of over 75 engineers and representatives of related professions volunteered their time to collect and analyze data, prepare and present their findings for the Report Card. Background information was gathered for each of the 15 categories evaluated, which included reports, studies, surveys, financial programs, budgets, and related research materials from professional societies, non-profit associations, and local, state and federal agencies.
The grades are developed in the simple A to F school report card format, assigning letter grades based on criteria that includes capacity, condition, funding, future need, operation and maintenance, public safety, resilience and innovation. The grades are based on current baseline conditions and represent an evaluation of the current state of the physical infrastructure itself. The grades are not meant to be a reflection on the agencies responsible for the infrastructure being graded, which are often working with limited resources.
The Report Card has proven to be a successful method of getting the message across on infrastructure conditions and needs and has been effectively used in the press and by elected officials.
The categories that were evaluated in 2022 are Aviation, Bridges, Dams, Drinking Water, Energy, Hazardous Waste, Levees, Ports, Public Parks, Rail, Roads, Solid Waste, Stormwater, Transit and Wastewater. We anticipate that at least one additional area, Inland Waterways, will be included in the 2026 effort. More information on this can be found at Pennsylvania Infrastructure | ASCE’s 2021 Infrastructure Report Card.
The ASCE PA Council will begin enlisting volunteers for assistance with the category evaluation effort in early 2025. If you have an interest in being part of the Report Card effort, or you would like to obtain additional information/have questions on this, please contact PA Council Vice Chair Bob Wright (rwright@bowman.com). You do not have to be an engineer or a member of ASCE to participate in this effort.
