CSIS Commission on Public Infrastructure

The nation’s infrastructure policy is at a crossroads, caught between rising demands and outdated programs to address them. The nation’s drinking water and wastewater infrastructure are in need of extensive repair. One-quarter of the nation’s bridges are structurally deficient or obsolete. According to a survey of the American Society for Civil Engineers (ASCE), our airways, port, and mass transit systems are unable to keep pace with growing demand. 

The cost of these failures is great. Time is lost to delay, commerce is impeded, and business productivity is compromised. Some 13,000 fatalities on highways each year result from inadequate maintenance, design, or capacity of roadways. At the center of the devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans was the failure of the flood walls and levee system. Our homeland security requires safe and efficient infrastructure systems and state-of-the-art facility management, planning, and technology for both first responders and the general public alike.

The CSIS Commission on Public Infrastructure, established in 2004 under the leadership of former U.S. ambassador to France Felix G. Rohatyn, seeks to raise public awareness and dialogue on the subject of America’s mounting infrastructure problems, and to help lead the country towards making more innovative investments in public infrastructure.

Experts:

Felix Rohatyn, CSIS Trustee

Frederick Whittemore, CSIS Trustee

Everett Ehrlich, Executive Director, CSIS Commission; President, ESC Company

Press:

Strengthening Nation's Infrastructure, WTOP, March 27, 2006 (mp3, 5:22)

“It's Time to Rebuild America: A Plan for Spending More — and Wisely — on Our Decaying Infrastructure”,
By Felix G. Rohatyn and Warren Rudman,The Washington Post, Tuesday, December 13, 2005; Page A27