In a new report, the American Society of Civil Engineers gave New Hampshire’s infrastructure a C grade. Local engineers who evaluated the state’s systems noted that the state has some of the oldest infrastructure in the country, and many of the structures are in major need of repair and updates. The grade indicates that while the state’s systems are working, they’re not in great shape.
“Would you be okay if your kid came home with a C? Probably not,” said Logan Johnson, a civil engineer in the state who worked on the report.
While a C isn’t every student’s desired grade, it’s an improvement for the state, which previously got a C-minus in the civil engineers’ 2017 report card.
The report comes as transportation officials have discovered recent structural issues on New Hampshire bridges. The engineers’ report gave the state’s bridges a C-minus, noting that many bridges are designed to only last 50 years. However most New Hampshire bridges exceed that — the average age of the state’s bridges is 65 years, and for municipalities’ bridges it's 56 years.
The engineers also gave mediocre ratings to the state’s drinking water infrastructure with a C-minus. Like bridges, the state’s public water systems are aging beyond their intended design, and are struggling to keep up with treating contaminants like PFAS, also known as forever chemicals.
But one of Johnson’s greater concerns is the solid waste system in New Hampshire, which she says is the only infrastructure grade, a C, which went down since the last report. Johnson said the state currently has capacity for only ten more years of in-state trash disposal in its landfills.
“Adding to the problem is that we're not even close to meeting our recycling goals,” Johnson said. “And our out-of-state waste continues to fill up our already limited landfill capacity.”
The state’s wastewater infrastructure received the lowest rating with a D-plus. The wastewater network was mostly built in the 1970s and is in need of replacement. The report noted that, in general, much of the old infrastructure in the state wasn’t designed to handle the projected effects of climate change and could be unable to keep up with increased precipitation and flooding.
The state’s aviation infrastructure received the highest rating, B-minus, with passenger travel rebounding to pre-pandemic levels. Flights from Manchester-Boston Regional Airport left and arrived on time more often than the national average. The report notes that these successes came after the federal government sent the state’s airports $50 million in infrastructure aid.
The New Hampshire civil engineers recommend the state dedicate consistent state funds to maintaining infrastructure, which has mostly relied on occasional federal dollars. The consequences of failing infrastructure, Johnson said, will fall on New Hampshire families.
“I'm talking about a bridge that fails and now the bus can't go that way, or you can't get to work,” Johnson said. “They need to know that their water treatment systems are doing what they need to be doing. And if their water is contaminated, now they have to pay.”
Additionally, the report states that shortages in the technical workforce have made it difficult to get structural changes completed. Therefore investments in workforce recruitment and retention will be essential to the future wellbeing of New Hampshire’s infrastructure.
