An expensive mess

The state of Rhode Island’s infrastructure

By Will Collette

New annual data from the American Society of Civil Engineers paints a grim picture of bad roads, crumbling bridges, degraded transportation, dangerous dams, over dependence on fossil fuels, and underfunded school and park facilities from one end of the state to the other.

The ASCE report highlights the huge gap between the staffing and funding needed to address our problems and what we actual commit.

One way or the other, we pay, either when systems fail or are overwhelmed by natural disasters or through the daily toll in wasted time and damaged vehicles.

If it’s any consolation at all, Rhode Island is hardly unique. Most states have similar infrastructure problems while funding to help maintain these systems dries up at the federal and state level.

This has been going on for a long time. When Cathy and I lived our 25 year exile in Washington, I used to crack that DC’s motto should be changed to “Welcome to Washington: 500 miles of bad road.”

Turns out my wisecrack was pretty accurate, since that’s almost exactly how many of DC’s 1000 miles of street were substandard. You don’t see this level of decay in many other world capitals such as London or Paris. Maybe Rome, but they have age as an excuse.

Here is Rhode Island’s Report Card from the American Society of Civil Engineers.

Water and Environment

Dams

• Rhode Island’s dam safety program has 1.6 Full-Time Employees that each oversee an average of 416.9 state regulated dams.
• Rhode Island has 87 high hazard dams.
• None of the state regulated dams in Rhode Island have an Emergency Action Plan.
• Rhode Island’s state dam safety program has an annual budget of $189,966.

Drinking Water

• Rhode Island has reported $428 million in drinking water infrastructure needs over the next 20 years.

Hazardous Waste

• Rhode Island has 12 sites on the National Priorities List, commonly known as “Superfund.”

Levees

• Rhode Island has approximately 5 miles of levees according to the current FEMA Midterm Levee Inventory.

Transportation

Aviation

• There are 8 public-use airports in Rhode Island.

Bridges

• 156 of the 757 bridges in Rhode Island (20.6%) are considered structurally deficient.
• 255 of the 757 bridges in Rhode Island (33.7%) are considered functionally obsolete.
• Rhode Island received $71.4 million from the Federal Highway Bridge Fund in FY2011.

Inland Waterways

• Rhode Island has 40 miles of inland waterways, ranking it 38th in the nation.

Ports

• Rhode Island’s ports handled 8.4 million short tons of cargo in 2009, ranking it 35th in the nation.

Rail

• Rhode Island has 1 freight railroad covering 19 miles across the state, ranking it 50th by mileage

Roads

• Driving on roads in need of repair costs Rhode Island motorists $350 million a year in extra vehicle repairs and operating costs – $467 per motorist.
• 70% of Rhode Island’s roads are in poor or mediocre condition.
• Rhode Island has 6,401 public road miles.
• Rhode Island’s highway vehicle-miles traveled in 2009 was approximately 7,867 per capita, ranking it 46th in the nation.
• Rhode Island’s gas tax of 33 cents per gallon has not been increased in 3 years.

Transit

• Rhode Island has 20,161 annual unlinked passenger trips via transit systems – motor bus, heavy rail, light rail, and commuter rail.

Public Facilities

Parks and Recreation

• Rhode Island has reported an unmet need of $3.6 million for its parks system.

Schools

• Public school districts in Rhode Island spent a total of $642 million on capital outlays for school construction and acquisition of land and existing structures in fiscal years 2005–2008.
• It is estimated that Rhode Island schools have $696 million in infrastructure funding needs.

Energy

• Rhode Island produces .144 gigawatt-hours of renewable energy every year, ranking it 49th.