美国国家公共电台 NPR Engineers Say Tax Increase Needed To Save Failing U.S. Infrastructure

ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST:

President Trump 1 often talks about the poor condition of the nation's roads, bridges, tunnels and airports. Well, today, the nation's civil engineers joined him in telling us just how bad it is. The American Society of Civil Engineers has given the infrastructure 2 of the United States a nearly failing grade of D-plus. NPR's David Schaper reports.

DAVID SCHAPER, BYLINE 3: It's not as though many of our bridges are about to collapse 4 or our cars will be swallowed up by potholes 5. But according to the American Society of Civil Engineers, a significant number of the critical structures and systems that we rely on to get us to and from work, that provide us with clean drinking water and that protect us from floods are in pretty bad shape. Take the nation's roads, for example, which the ASCE's Greg DiLoreto says get the same disappointing grade as four years ago - a D.

GREG DILORETO: More than two out of every five miles of America's urban interstates are congested. And traffic delays cost this country $160 billion in wasted fuel and time.

SCHAPER: DiLoreto says, on average, Americans waste 43 hours a year stuck in traffic, and he says our aging airports are increasingly congested, too.

DILORETO: It is expected that by 2020, 24 of our 30 major airports will experience Thanksgiving Day peak traffic at least once a week.

SCHAPER: America's water systems are leaking trillions of gallons of water. More than 2,000 dams are at high risk of failure. Fifty-nine thousand bridges around the country are structurally 6 deficient 7. And DiLoreto says mass transit 8 earns the worst grade of all - a D-minus.

DILORETO: The nation's transit systems are chronically 10 underfunded, resulting in aging infrastructure and a $90 billion maintenance backlog 11.

SCHAPER: Getting all of the nation's infrastructure into relatively 12 good shape by the year 2025 would cost more than four and a half trillion dollars, according to the engineers who design and maintain infrastructure. ASCE's executive director Tom Smith says the chronic 9 failure to invest in infrastructure is a huge drain on the nation's economy.

TOM SMITH: Unfortunately, we have a tendency to wait for disasters and be reactive. And we want to do is be proactive and not reactive because when we're reactive, it ends up costing significantly more than when we're proactive.

SCHAPER: The engineers group applauds President Trump for his attention to fixing the nation's crumbling 13 infrastructure. But they note his call to spend up to $1 trillion is not enough and that his plan to leverage 14 private investment is inadequate 15. ASCE president Norma Jean Mattei...

NORMA JEAN MATTEI: There's no magic wand to address this crisis, no infrastructure money tree, no infrastructure private sector 16 angel.

SCHAPER: The group is calling for a huge 25-cents-a-gallon increase in the federal gasoline tax to help pay for infrastructure improvements, noting that the current tax of 18-point-four cents a gallon hasn't been raised since 1993 and hasn't kept up with inflation and with growing needs. But White House spokesman Sean Spicer says the president is sticking with his original plan.

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SEAN SPICER: I think we're looking at a public-private partnership 17 as a funding mechanism 18. There is a lot of work being done behind the scenes, and I don't want to put a timeline on that.

SCHAPER: Despite the urgent call from engineers, Spicer says for now infrastructure will have to wait until after the repeal 19 of replacement 20 of Obamacare and reform of the tax code. David Schaper, NPR News.

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