2019 Georgia Infrastructure Report Card
Friday, January 25th, 2019
The U.S. Census report published in early January 2019 shows that Georgia’s population has grown from 9.7 million in 2010 to 10.5 million in 2018. Georgia’s growth begs many questions: How will all of these people move around? Will they have adequate drinking water and electricity? What types of facilities will be available for their recreation? How suitable are the school buildings? Every day, civil engineers focus on these types of infrastructure questions.
Because infrastructure impacts so many aspects of the lives of Georgia’s citizens, every five years the Georgia Section of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) evaluates key aspects of our state’s infrastructure. Citizens of Georgia benefit from an objective review undertaken by dozens of experts in their respective fields. The 2019 Georgia Infrastructure Report Card represents the fourth evaluation performed by the Georgia Section of ASCE and focuses on 14 categories of infrastructure.
In 2019, the overall grade for Georgia’s infrastructure improved for the first time ever, rising to a cumulative grade of C+. While significant improvements headline this positive story, many challenges remain as addressed in our five Key Solutions to Raise the Grade.
How will further progress be made? The answer begins with engagement and we hope the 2019 Infrastructure Report card will help by increasing awareness of infrastructure needs in order start the conversation on how to continue to improve infrastructure to support Georgia’s economy and quality of life.