“A lot of our stuff was designed decades, if not even a century, ago. We need to replace it, repair it in a manner that is appropriate, taking into account climate change resiliency,” Danielle Spicer, incoming Region 1 director of the American Society of Civil Engineers, the Boston Society of Civil Engineers Section’s umbrella organization.
The report is not the first group to raise alarm bells over state infrastructure’s ability to withstand climate change. Governor Maura Healey’s team has put a spotlight on the problem in the state’s annual Climate Report Card. Similarly, The Boston Foundation has also written about the issue in its Boston Climate Progress Report.
Fabienne Alexis, spokesperson for the Department of Environmental Protection, said the need for sustained, robust investment in water infrastructure is critical, “Particularly in light of the increased flooding and heavy precipitation events we’re experiencing with greater frequency.”
“While the Healey-Driscoll Administration has proposed additional funding in the Mass Ready Act for essential infrastructure projects across Massachusetts, the Trump administration’s proposed cuts to the State Revolving Fund would significantly hinder our ability to get those projects built,” Alexis said, referring to a fund that helps communities strengthen water infrastructure.
The EPA said the cuts would help with “achieving efficiencies and savings for taxpayers while accomplishing its mission.”
The 91-page report said billions of dollars in unmet needs are behind the grade. Massachusetts faces annual funding shortfalls across nearly every major infrastructure sector, including roughly $1 billion in annual bridge repair needs and a $24.5 billion backlog of repairs and replacements to bring the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority into good working condition, according to the report.
Mike Cunningham, a past president of BSCES, said the state ought to secure more than just maintenance funds.
Massachusetts, he said, needs to enhance its investment in resilience projects — newer, stronger projects designed to deal with modern challenges, especially climate change.
More intense rainfall, rising sea levels, and increasingly severe winter storms are overwhelming undersized, older infrastructure, aging combined sewer systems, and vulnerable coastal transit infrastructure while making maintenance more difficult and costly, said Cunningham.
“That’s the main impetus: to show that Massachusetts has a lot of aging infrastructure and a lot of investment needs,” said Cunningham.
The report evaluated seven categories across three years: bridges, dams, drinking water, roads, stormwater, transit, and wastewater.
Transit received the highest grade, a C, which ASCE’s rubric defines as mediocre. That was still higher than the national transit grade of D.
“We had a wonderful influx of funds on the transportation side through the Fair Share Amendment, and that’s reflected in the transit grade being higher than the other grades,” said Pat Tierney, chair of the BSCES government affairs and professional practice committee.
Bridges, dams, roads, and stormwater systems each earned a D+, reflecting the strain of aging infrastructure and decades of underinvestment.
Interim Secretary of Transportation and MBTA General Manager Phil Eng said the report card’s “mediocre” grade point “confirms that our transportation system is among the nation’s oldest and has been severely underinvested in for decades.”
Eng claimed the Healey-Driscoll administration “has changed that” underinvestment, and directed “record funding to help us improve roads, bridges, and public transportation across the state.”
Cunningham said the best way for the everyday person to help improve the state’s infrastructure grade is by learning about current needs, and urging state lawmakers to support funding measures.
“The costs for all these improvements can’t be borne solely by the users, the residents, businesses, taxpayers, because it would become unaffordable,” he said.
Thai Theodoro can be reached at thai.theorodo@globe.com.
