Northeast Ohio’s infrastructure receives near-failing grade from engineers organization

CLEVELAND, OH (WOIO) - The American Society of Civil Engineers, or ASCE, has released their report card for Northeast Ohio, and the grade point average, or GPA, is not that flattering.

The overall grade was a D-plus.

That may sound alarming, but the group says that they found that, for the most part, cities, counties and municipalities are doing the best that they can with the money that they have available.

The recurring theme was mainly that Northeast Ohio has an aging infrastructure that needs to be replaced.

The ASCE looked at seven areas that have to do with infrastructure: Bridges, dams, drinking water, energy, roads, schools and wastewater.

Those areas were examined in a five-county area that included Cuyahoga, Lorain, Lake, Medina and Geauga counties.

Northeast Ohio got a D-plus for roads, for example.

Why the D-plus? Not necessarily for the maintenance of the roadways, the group found that many major roadways have good pavement conditions. The ratings were lower for county and municipal roadways. The low grade was for congestion on I-90 and I-480 and accidents.

“A couple of alarming facts that we came across was in the five county region alone in 2017, just shy of 50,000 car accidents occurred in the five county region. And of those 50,000 car accidents, 166 fatalities unfortunately resulted from that,” said Ed Adamczyk, the co-chair of the Northeast Ohio Report Card Committee.

Adamczyk says there isn't necessarily a direct connection between the accidents and the road conditions, but the statistics proves there is work to be done.

Click here to read the full report card for Northeast Ohio’s infrastructure.

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