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A recent assessment conducted by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) disclosed that the roads, bridges, rail, drinking water, waste water, solid waste and other infrastructure in the US is close to flunking,

According to an International Business Times report, civil engineers in the US assess the infrastructure of the nation once every four year. The grades in the assessment is liken to an A to F report card. The civil engineers has the following categories to go over the state of infrastructure, mainly capacity, condition, funding, future need, operation, maintenance, public safety, resilience and innovation. IBTimes pointed out that this year's assessment grade, at D+, was better than the last one in 2009, which was at D. Nonetheless, the report said US' infrastructure assessment grade had been averaging at around D due to underinvestment and delayed maintenance across majority of the categories.

ASCE's report read, "While the modest progress is encouraging, it is clear that we have a significant backlog of overdue maintenance across our infrastructure systems, a pressing need for modernization, and an immense opportunity to create reliable, long-term funding sources to avoid wiping out our recent gains."

On the other hand, solid waste obtained the highest grade at B-. IBTimes said in its report that the rates per capita in solid waste had retained for the last 20 years, but a decline has been observed in recent years. The ASCE report shows that the category that obtained the lowest grade was inland waterways and levees at D-. The civil engineers' report also revealed that the rest of the categories had either retained their grades since the last assessment or had made improvements.

IBTimes noted that an increase in private equity investment for connectivity and efficiency had a hand in helping the rail's grade improved. Water categories, on the other hand, had been earning the worst grades.

"We know that investing in infrastructure is essential to support healthy, vibrant communities. Infrastructure is also critical for long-term economic growth, increasing GDP, employment, household income, and exports. The reverse is also true - without prioritizing our nation's infrastructure needs, deteriorating conditions can become a drag on the economy," the report stated.