Infrastructure is the kind of word that can make even the most civic-minded folks among us fall asleep with their eyes open.
Roads, bridges, and high-speed passenger rail are the sorts of things we take for granted. That’s what we pay taxes for, right? Someone will take care of that stuff.
However, it seems that hasn’t been the case — not here in Colorado or nationally.
A recent report from the Urban Land Institute says the United States is far behind much of the rest of the world in keeping up with infrastructure needs by having systematically underfunded such projects over the last 30 years.
Colorado has fallen in line with that trend, and lacks the resources to bend the curve. Given the federal budget crunch and funding cuts to states that are sure to come, it’s only going to get worse.
What’s the state to do?
A day of reckoning is coming in which Coloradans will have to reach some level of consensus on the government services we want, at the same time realizing they come with a pricetag.
Infrastructure has to be part of that conversation. That goes for education, both K-12 and higher education, social services and prison costs, too.
The Urban Land Institute study, released this week , says that other countries, particularly the emerging economic powerhouses of Brazil, China and India, have surged ahead of the U.S. in investing in infrastructure. While U.S. population has been steadily rising, spending on U.S. transportation and water infrastructure projects has been declining since 1960, when measured as a percentage of gross domestic product.
The nation would need to spend a breathtaking $2 trillion just to rebuild deteriorating roads, bridges, water lines, sewage treatment plants and dams.
In Colorado, the story is much the same.
In 2009, the American Society of Civil Engineers released a report that said the state’s wastewater infrastructure needs an investment of $2.13 billion. And drinking-water infrastructure needs an investment of $5.32 billion over the next 20 years.
There are serious issues with Colorado’s highways, too.
Nearly 53 percent of highways in the state’s aging system are rated “poor” and 33 percent of highways need complete reconstruction.
State lawmakers approved FASTER in 2009, which upped vehicle registration fees to help repair dangerous bridges. While an important step, the millions it brings in are far less than what’s needed.
Colorado needs more than $1.5 billion in new highway money annually just to keep up. Revenues aren’t coming close to meeting that need.
Meanwhile, the state and the nation have been struggling through the lingering effects of a deep recession. Unemployment rates remain high, and the appetite for new taxes remains low. State government continues to slash budgets year after year and while the federal government has been on a spending spree, those days need to end, too.
Sometime soon, citizens will have to decide what kind of state and nation we want and how we’re going to pay for it.
The longer we wait, the more acute the problems will become.
