and like what we see in high income countries, the situation in low and middle income countries can also improve significantly, so the world could open up everywhere. so with that, thank you so much again to colleagues, and look forward to working with you closely to make this proposal happen. and thank you so much, especially to imf for putting together this proposal. and i believe that this really can open up the world by ending the pandemic. so thank you so much. with that, i >> live coverage continues when

the director for medicaid services will talk about the biden administration's plans for health care. that is 1:00 p.m. eastern. coming up this evening, former vice president mike pence is a featured speaker at the lincoln- reagan dinner in and chester, new hampshire. you can find these events live on c-span.org or listen with a free c-span radio app. night at 10:00 eastern on c-span, online on c-span.org or listen with the c-span radio app. >> washington journal continues. host: we will talk with casey dinges, the executive advisor with the american society of civil engineers, about that group's report card on america's infrastructure and what may be ahead for what the biden administration is is seeking -- biden administration is seeking to do. good morning.

guest: good morning. host: what does the american society of civil engineers -- what role does the american society of civil engineers have? guest: it has been in existence since 1852, it is the oldest national engineering society in the united states. in the late 1990's, the society and members of the broader public were growing concerned about the infrastructure issue of the 1988 federal report. it seemed like the level of action to address those issues was inadequate. so, the society started to dig into the issue more and started putting out report cards every four years, roughly every four years, beginning in 1998. we have 150,000 members, who work in all aspects of civil

engineering and infrastructure. so, we thought we could bring great credibility to this issue, in trying to get a handle on where we were, -- where we are, where we should be and what is happening to the nation as a result of under investing in the nations infrastructure. it is great to see a robust discussion and dialogue occurring in washington at this point because the stakes for the country are quite high. right now, it is a great opportunity, actually. if we were to just invest one more percentage point of gdp into our infrastructure, we could get these grades, which are averaging a c minus right now, up to a b level. this is a volunteer effort, done by the members of our organization, working together with the staff. host: other than talking about it to the public, what is the main purpose of this report card? guest: the report card is to

educate people about the importance of infrastructure, and to create a resource for policymakers to use, so that they can advance, hopefully in a bipartisan fashion, to address the issue at the local, state and federal level. it has been encouraging over the past few years to see a greater level of activity at the state level. that is one of the reasons why the average grade went up to a c minus, from the previous grade of d+ in 2017. it is good to see that there is improvement. i would hardly be pleased if my child come home -- came home and said look, dad, my rates are up from a d+ to a c minus. i would still be concerned about the issue. host: we have been showing the audience the c minus overall grade. we will get to the specifics on the roads and bridges, etc. in the great coming up from a d+

from the last report, where are the areas that you are seeing improvement in infrastructure across the country? guest: we now have two categories at a b. ports got up to a b minus. rail has been a b. transit is lacking at a d-. out of the 17 categories of infrastructure, this is what we would call traditional infrastructure categories, out of the 17, there are 11 d's, four c's and two b's. i think the thing that -- these are all important issues. if you live near a levy, you are a town that will be most concerned about levees. or water, if you are a farmer. if you are living in the big city, transit and transportation might be the most pressing issue. certainly drinking water, the way we handle polluted water or

dirty discharges of water, that is a concern to everybody. aviation, once we come out of covid and we have a reset and people are back into travel mode, i think some of the woes people are experiencing in airports will continue again. it is hard to say which one is the most important issue. i think where you stand on that depends on where you sit. i often hear most about traffic. that is a visceral issue for people in metropolitan areas. host: certainly the discussion on whether things like adding 5g and bringing additional broadband across the country has become a bit more of a political issue. even a thing like the recent hack of the colonial pipeline showed the effect on infrastructure, that would be the nation's gas supply. it does seem like your organization is tasked, more than ever, with assessing many more categories than you used to. guest: right. but this is very much a volunteer effort by the members.

broadband has an issue that has emerged more in recent years. it is a legitimate issue. people can put any issue they want on the table in this discussion and it will be up to the democratic process to see how far we get to it in the end. but, we are facing a huge economic risk with this issue. there is a hidden tax being paid by every american family, because of the inadequate level of infrastructure investment in this country. it is costing each family $3300 a year, because of the state of play in our infrastructure. when people get very caught up in the discussion about how we are going to pay for this, should we raise user fees? we haven't raised the gas tax since 1993. it has lost half of its purchasing power. we have to be honest about this. we did an economic study called

the failure to act. people can google that and look at the study. we are putting at risk $10 trillion in u.s. gdp, 3 million jobs, $2.5 trillion in exports. so, this hits the pocketbook. this hits home. it is also a safety issue for americans. host: let's bring our viewers and listeners into the conversation on the state of america's infrastructure. (202) 748-8000 is the line to call if you are in the eastern and central time zones. for mountain and pacific, (202) 748-8001. our guest is casey dinges. he is the executive advisor for the american society of civil engineers. let's get into the specifics on the report card itself. particularly on roads, the grade for the roads is a d. give us some of the low lights of that grade. guest: about 40% of the

condition of the roads in this country are fair to mediocre condition. 178 million times a day, people travel over bridges that are structurally deficient and a point of greater focus for engineers, we just saw the closure of the interstate 40 bridge over the mississippi river, connecting tennessee and arkansas. there is a single bridge, causing huge headaches for businesses that are relying on that bridge and citizens. people have to do work around. people feel that and it is a pocketbook issue. the condition of the roads are costing the average motorist close to $1000 a year in added expenses and wasted fuel. the road conditions -- it is a condition of the roads and a

number of metropolitan areas, capacity issues causing congestion. there has been a little bit of relief during covid. it will be interesting to see the reset going forward. host: does your report on roads or any of the other categories, do you look at where the shortfall is in terms of the effort? is it on the state and local level or on the federal level? guest: this is across the board. local, state, and federal. in recent years, the states have been stepping up. in the past decade, over 35 states have raised user fees and gas taxes and other transportation user fees. this has been done on a bipartisan basis. those politicians at the state level are getting reelected after casting those votes. that is a subtle message for members of congress to hear, also.

people are willing to pay for it if they have confidence in the projects that are being invested in. there have been some encouraging signs. i think the federal government needs to step up to be a better partner at this level. the feds have done it before. the creation of the interstate highway system, one of the greatest engineering accomplishments on the planet, was the result of federal leadership, under a republican president, i might add. eisenhower. we can get there. it will take some patience and effort. host: let's take a look at your report on bridges. the report card on bridges and the overall grade being a c. what did you find? guest: the number of bridges having problems has decreased, there are over 600,000 bridges in the united states. at this point, about 7% of them require more dedicated inspections than the others. that is down