Kentucky is receiving mixed reviews in a new report card looking at the nation’s aging infrastructure. The report was issued Thursday by the American Society of Civil Engineers.
One of the major challenges cited in the report is the $6.2 billion in drinking water infrastructure needs in Kentucky over the next 20 years. The state also needs a more than $6 billion investment to meet its wastewater infrastructure needs in the next two decades.
Kentucky motorists on average pay $331 a year due to driving on roads in need of repair. That’s actually a slight improvement since the last infrastructure report card, issued in 2013.
Kentucky currently has $9 million in unmet needs at its public parks—a nearly $18 million improvement over where the state stood four years ago. The latest report gives the nation’s infrastructure an overall grade of D-plus, unchanged from the last report.
Some other findings from the report include:
- The amount of high hazard dams in Kentucky increased from 179 to 235.
- There is a gap of $453 million in estimated school capital expenditures.
- The state's renewable energy ranking went down from 28th to 34th in the nation.
- There was an increase in dams with an emergency action plan from 32 percent in the 2013 report to 76 percent.
