A series of extremely poor ratings for the U.S. infrastructure will have dire consequences for manufacturing without significant planning and investment. What we have concentrated on, as a nation, are the many good reasons to outsource and to globalize our manufacturing, along with pressing for tighter control over parts and products. It is hard to argue against these efforts. However, this ignores the nature of our infrastructure and its impact on domestic manufacturing and the supply to and from abroad. Manufactured goods need to get where they are intended to go. The act of manufacturing remains academic, regardless of its place of origin, if distribution is either not available or badly retarded by a crumbling infrastructure.
The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) gave the U.S. infrastructure a grade of D in 2001 after the attacks of Sept. 11. It was a dreadful report that showed that the nation was not in good shape for normal operations, much less dramatic disasters. The Hurricane Katrina disaster in New Orleans in 2005 should have underscored the need to take care of our infrastructure. But the U.S. infrastructure earned an even worse grade — D minus — in 2005. And the major bridge collapse in Minneapolis this year again pointed up the need for a major investment in infrastructure.
Twenty-seven percent of our nearly 600,000 bridges are structurally deficient or obsolete. This means that every state in America has bridges ready to fail like the Minneapolis Interstate 35W span. Wake up, Department of Transportation. The Minneapolis span, built in 1967, is not an isolated design; it is a 458-ft. steel, arched span over the Mississippi River. There are 756 similar bridges in the United States.
Manufactured items and the materials that go into them almost always travel by roads, rails, or airfreight. None of these sectors has anything to crow about. The ASCE's 2005 report card gave aviation a D plus and navigable waterways a D minus. Roads went from a D plus in 2001 to a D; and rails received a C minus.
Compounding this national dilemma is the fact that our seaports are inadequate to receive big ships and handle the immense container traffic they bring. There is not a single major bright spot in any part of the U.S. infrastructure.
The ASCE states that the nation needs to spend $1.6 trillion in the next five years, but we are not spending anything like that. ASCE recommends that Congress enact the National
Infrastructure Improvement Act in order to establish the National Commission of Infrastructure of the United States. The commission would study the nation's infrastructure and, by 2009, make its recommendations to Congress. This would translate into a major financial commitment. According to the ASCE, U.S. bridges alone will cost $9.4 billion over 20 years to repair and correct for structural deficiencies. (See the ASCE's full action plan.)
Manufacturers today rely on just-in-time performance in their scheduling. But JIT is not possible to sustain with a D-level infrastructure. As we should know, a house divided cannot stand. What we don't seem to understand is that a house without repair cannot survive.