the urban land institute we focus on the longer term view a lot of places like the american society of civil engineers and others are really looking at the short term job benefits and helping to put people back to work which is of course an immediate concern so pumping money into infrastructure investments not only does it give you benefits today but it also you know provides those long term benefits that you need so you know it's not it's not an either or question and we have this report card that we put up on screen just a few moments ago this is by the american society of civil engineers this is not a partisan group looking for political gain these are grades given by people who understand the engineering aspect of things that are built in the last lack of safety standards have been implemented i mean i know that if i brought a report card that looked home looked like this home to my parents there would be some immediate changes that would happen i guess i'm wondering why. you know letter grades and information like this has largely been ignored you know i mean i think across the u.s. at the nation

. >> reporter: our roads are so poor that the american society of civil engineers gave california a grade of d plus. >> if you came home with a d plus grade, your dad would take a grim view of that. we should as well. >> reporter: 50,000 miles of state highways, including bay area roads. we went through ten years of maintenance records to find where your car is most likely to take a beating. the areas with the most pothole repairs, 580 in alameda county, followed by 101 in sonoma county and 101 in santa clara county. it didn't take us long to discover other issues all over the area. check out this metal near 101 in san mateo. these are some of the potholes we found driving around. >> okay. >> reporter: for a month, we asked to talk to a manager familiar with road conditions. instead, a public affairs officer was made available. has maintenance increased or decreased? >> i can't make a determination on that. i don't have those numbers here. >> reporter: question after question. we had a hard time getting answers. how often do you repair uneven pavement? >> i don't have that number here. >>

. >> our roads are so poor that the american society of civil engineers gave roadways in california ade of a d plus. >> if you came home with a d plus grade, your dad would take a dim view of that. we should take a dim view of that as well. >> cal-transis responsible for maintaining highways, including bay area roads. we went through ten years of maintenance records to find where your car is most likely to take a beating. the area with the most pothole repair followed by 101 in sonoma county. it didn't take us long to discover other issues all over the bay area. check out this metal sticking out. >> this is just some of the potholes that we found driving around. >> for a month, we asked to talk with the cal-tranz maintenance manager. instead, a public affairs officer was made available. >> as far as maintenance, do you have an increase or decrease? the last ten years? >> i can't make a determination on that. i don't have those numbers here. >> reporter: question after question, we had a hard time getting answers. >> how often does cal trans have anything here? >> i don't have that num

. >> our roads are so poor that the american society of civil engineers give the roadways in california of a d-plus. >> if you came home with that kind of a grade, your dad would take a dim view of that, we should take a kim view as well. >> later this evening in our full investigation, you will hear from the state agency, again, jessica, that's tonight after the olympics. >> thank you very much elise, we'll see you then. if you have a tip for our investigative unit, you can call 888-996-tips. >>> well, do you want to be among the first to know who mitt romney picks for a running mate? there's an apf for that. romney's campaign rolled outs an iphone app for mitt romney's vice presidential choice. our four years ago mr. obama also collected thousands of supporters cell phone numbers with the promise he would share his vp news by text message, but word that he had selected joe biden leaked before obama's team sent out that text. >>> the lights are back on after more than a half a million people endured what may be the largest power outage in history. here's a little her speckive to explai

if you look at the reports by the american society of civil engineers, not a right-wing group or a left-wing group, they give the united states a grade of d when it comes to infrastructure. if we will compete with international competitors, we need a 21st century infrastructure. an energy infrastructure, the foundations that help move goods and services around the country and the world. the president proposed $50 billion. major initiative. he proposed additional measures to help small businesses. that was in september. we have not had a vote in the house of representatives on the president's jobs initiative. we have now voted 37 times in the house of representatives to repeal obamacare, the affordable care act, but not a single vote on the rest of the president's jobs initiative. now less september the president also submitted a plan for long-term deficit reduction. we have to big parties. one is to nurture and boost the fragile recovery we remain in. it is important to pass a jobs initiative. we will take other measures to accomplish that. what other measure the president has proposed is pr

and the american society of civil engineers gave bridges in america a c grade in its 2009 report card for america's infrastructure and a d for infrastructure overall. we did take a positive step forward with the recent bipartisan transportation bill that will help state departments of transportation fix bridges and improve infrastructure. for minnesota, that bill means more than $700 million for minnesota's roads, bridges, transit, congestion mitigation projects and mobility improvements. the bill gives greater flexibility to address federal resources to address unique needs in each state. it establishes benchmarks and national policy goals including strengthening our nation's bridges and links those to federal funds. it reduces project delivery time and accelerates processes that will reduce in half the amount of time to get projects underway. however, we all know that more needs to be done. while other countries are moving full steam ahead with infrastructure investments, we seem to be simply treading water. and in an increasingly competitive global economy, standing still is fallin

if you look at the reports by the american society of civil engineers, not a right-wing group or a left-wing group, they give the united states a grade of d when it comes to the state of our infrastructure. if we will compete with international competitors, we need a 21st century infrastructure. an energy infrastructure, the foundations that help move goods and services around the country and the world. the president proposed $50 billion. major initiative. he proposed additional measures to help small businesses. that was in september. we have not had a vote in the house of representatives on the president's jobs initiative. we have now voted 37 times in the house of representatives to repeal obamacare, the affordable care act, but not a single vote on the rest of the president's jobs initiative. now less september the president also submitted a plan for long-term deficit reduction. we have to big parties. -- two big priorities. one is to nurture and boost the fragile recovery we remain in. it is important to pass a jobs initiative. we will take other measures to accomplish that. what other

because if you look at the reports by the american society of civil engineers -- not a right-wing group, not a left-wing group -- they give the united states a grade of d, d when it comes to the state of our infrastructure. if we're going to compete with our international competitors, we need a 21st century infrastructure. on energy infrastructure, on other forms of the foundations that help move goods and services around the country and, of course, around the world. and the president proposed that, $50 billion. major initiative. he also proposed additional measures to help small businesses. that was this september. that was in september. we haven't had a vote in the house of representatives on the president's jobs initiative. we have now voted 37 times in the house of representatives to repeal obamacare, to repeal the affordable care act, but not a single vote on the rest of the president's jobs initiative. now, last september the president also submitted a plan for long-term deficit reduction. because we have two big priorities. one is to nurture and boost the very fragile recovery th