New Jersey got a D-plus from the American Society of Civil Engineers in 2016. The failing grade has many worried about the state of the Garden State's infrastructure.
A respected group of experts issued its annual report card on the condition of New Jersey's infrastructure last week, and the state came dangerously close to failing.
Scrutinizing 13 crucial areas - including dams, drinking water supplies and transportation of hazardous waste - the American Society of Civil Engineers rewarded the Garden State with an overall D-plus for 2016.
It's little consolation that this is the same grade the state received in the 2013 national edition of the report card. Running in place doesn't hack it when you're one of only four states whose scores hovered in the D's.
Winners and losers of proposed 23-cent gas tax increase
As much as it will put the squeeze on residents' wallets, it's time for a serious look at that 23-cent gasoline tax under consideration in one of the bills currently on the table, or at least some variation thereof. At this point, the price of inaction is just too steep.
Jeff Tittel, director of the Sierra Club's New Jersey chapter, estimates that the state also needs $8 billion to replace bad water pipes in urban areas, and $14 billion to upgrade wastewater and sewage treatment plants.
The American Society of Civil Engineers' study assigns grades by looking at such criteria as capacity, condition, funding, future needs, public safety and maintenance.
Most alarming of the findings were the areas that jeopardize public safety.
Nearly one in every three dams in the state carries potential risk in cases of severe weather. One in 11 of the state's 6,657 bridges is structurally deficient. Out of 10 levees that the engineers regularly inspect, half are rated minimally acceptable.
"It is grim - there is no way around it," said Luis Barragan, who chairs the association report card committee.
"Grim" doesn't come close. Try disastrous. Or terrifying.
While legislators weigh the pros and cons of at least three different approaches to refill the coffers of the rapidly depleting Transportation Trust Fund, and Gov. Chris Christie remains reticent about any compromise involving a gasoline tax hike, the deterioration continues.
In their report, the civil engineers offered three steps to start raising the grade. No. 1 was fixing the fund, which supplies the majority of funding for roads and transit systems.
Beginning next month, they warned, "it will no longer be able to fund new projects, and all remaining revenue will be used to pay off existing bills."
This is no idle threat. In this densest and most heavily traveled state, unsafe highways and bridges not only strike at the well-being of our economy, but also endanger our very lives.
What does it say about our lawmakers and our governor that this has been allowed to happen on their watch?
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