The state of Florida’s infrastructure is...
Bottom Line: Mediocre. Governor DeSantis laid out an optimistic view of our state in his 3rd state of the state address to open up Florida’s 2021 legislative session and with good reason. When it comes to Florida’s infrastructure however...we have some work to do. The American Society of Civil Engineers produces a national report card for infrastructure every four years. That includes a breakout for each state based on the stability of its infrastructure. Like just about every other metric – Florida does rank above the national average but when the country’s infrastructure only ranks a C- currently – that's nothing to get excited about. On the plus side the country has made progress over the past four years.
According to the ASCE’s report, the country’s infrastructure is out of “D” territory for the first time in 20 years. Thus, progress was made during the Trump administration. Of course, President Trump wanted to go big on infrastructure but Congress never obliged and, on that note, the ASCE has this to say: Congress and President Biden’s administration have a simple choice: pay our overdue infrastructure bill, stimulate the economy and jobs, and make the backbone of our economy better – or pay more later and weigh down the economy and families until we make the investment.
Regarding Florida four years ago we were ranked a “C” and that’s exactly where we are today. Here’s the summation from the previous report: As Florida grows, investing in infrastructure must be Florida’s top priority to continue to be the place people want to live and work as well as attract visitors from around the country and the world. The good news is that investments in areas like bridges and smart technology investment solutions seen in ports and airports are raising Florida’s grades. Notably Governor DeSantis addressed the need to prioritize infrastructure in yesterday’s state of the state address. There aren’t many aspects of our state that are still just marginal but this is one of them. You might say it’s probably time to make Florida’s infrastructure great again.
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