2009 State of Ohio Infrastructure Report Card

In 1998, the American Society of Civil Engineers developed and published its first report card on the infrastructure of America, assigning letter grades to various areas of infrastructure importance.  Since that time, ASCE has updated the report card in 2001, 2003, 2005 and most recently early 2009.  This latest report card, 2009reportcard , explains and illustrates the problems and difficulties that our country is having in maintaining its critical infrastructure and recommends possible solutions to consider to fix these deficiencies.   In addition, many states have developed their own report cards to highlight areas of concern on their local levels.

At their Spring 2008 meeting, the Ohio Council of local ASCE sections formed a committee to develop a Report Card on the State of Ohio's infrastructure. Kevin Carpenter was appointed as chairperson of the report card committee.  Solicitations went out in April and May via the Council and sections to invite members to participate on the committee. The first meeting, held in June 2008,  determined which areas of infrastructure the committee believed was important to investigate.  The categories that were selected included:

• Aviation
• Bridges
• Dams
• Drinking Water
• Electricity
• Parks and Recreation
• Railroads
• Roads
• Schools
• Transit
• Wastewater                                 

Later in the summer of 2008, committee members volunteered to head up sections where they would gather information and other sources to develop a report.  Additional meetings, which included face to face and teleconferencing dialogue, were held in the fall and early winter of 2009.  At the Fall 2008 Ohio Council meeting, delegates were updated on progress and provided additional ideas and direction.  An ASCE State Public Affairs Grant was applied for and eventually award to Ohio Council to assist in paying for costs associated with developing, printing and publicizing the report card.

Committee members were given a deadline of January 2009 to collect all of their information needed to develop their reports.  A report template was then developed for each category chairperson to use in writing their reports.  This was important to develop a continuity amongst the different sections in writing style and conveyance of information.  Reports were written and submitted by the end of February 2009.  After numerous edits and further discussion, a preliminary report was developed.

At the Spring 2009 Ohio Council meeting, the prelimary report was presented to the board and delegates and additional comment and suggestions were made to the committee.  The report card committee then solicited additional volunteers, individuals who had not previously assisted on the initial development of the report, to serve as an advisory peer committee.  Their job was to review the report, check for errors and omissions and to render an opinion as to whether the letter grade assigned to a specific category was reasonable.  ASCE National was also asked to read and comment on the report.

After further discussions, a final report, with 10 separate catergory reports,  was written and published for distribution.  A press conference was held at the Ohio Statehouse on May 20, 2009 with report card committee members and ASCE National President-Elect Blaine Leonard to explain the report to the media and other interested parties.  Copies of the full report will be disbursed to Ohio's nationally elected officials, statewide legislators and officials, local elected officials and others.  In addition, report card summaries will be distributed to each of the six local ASCE sections in Ohio to make others aware of the condition of Ohio's infrastructure.

The report card, in its full version, summary form or individual caterogies, can be downloaded for review at the bottom of page.  It is hoped that these documents will be used to make legislators and other officials aware of the important role Ohio plays in not only the local but national economic well being.  Ohio has over 3,000 ASCE members working to make our citizens way-of-life better each day.

The report card would not have been made possible without the effort of fourteen volunteer committe members who gave countless hours of their personal time to research, author and review each report.  Additional volunteers provided necessary reviews help increase the credibility of the 2009 Ohio Infrastructure Report Card. A full listing of each contributor is listed below.  For any additional questions about the 2009 Ohio Infrastructure Report Card should be directed towards Kevin Carpenter, P.E.,P.S. at kevin.carpenter@wdtransportation.com or 614-634-7360.