Editorial: Infrastructure needs daunting

Amid growth spurts in Hawaii’s population and land development, the strain on the state’s infrastructure is escalating. Among the signals are an increase in water main breaks, floodwater damage, loss of property from coastal erosion, and brown-water advisories posted at beach parks.

The American Society of Civil Engineers’ Hawaii Section’s inaugural infrastructure report card, released last week, paints a grim picture, as a majority of the state’s systems have been operating beyond their useful life, with some components more than 100 years old.

The challenges facing the state’s infrastructure network — bridges, dams, roads, drinking water apparatus, schools, solid waste and wastewater networks, stormwater, coastal areas, aviation and energy — include inadequate funding and sea level rise.

The report highlights a hard truth our state and county governments are facing: Substantial and sustained investments are necessary now, even if money is tight. Besides rising public health and safety concerns, costs linked to Band-Aid patches and operational inefficiencies caused by aging structures and gear are increasingly hitting the taxpayer’s pocketbook. Invest now, or pay more later.

In response to the report, in which Hawaii received an overall grade of D+, Lt. Gov. Josh Green correctly observed that due to our high vulnerability to sea level rise we must be a “half-step ahead of what the rest of the country does.”

On the matter of sea level rise in the islands, a separate report, the federal government’s fourth U.S. National Climate Assessment, issued in November, asserts that climate change impacts are already underway, with more than $19 billion in related damage projected statewide by 2100.

It’s sensible to explore the possibility of states and the federal government teaming up to share investment costs. Along those lines, the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee held a hearing last week on the “nation’s crumbling infrastructure and the need for immediate action.”

The engineering society’s latest nationwide quadrennial assessment, the 2017 Infrastructure Report Card, pegged the overall national grade at a “D+” — the same grade issued in 2013, suggesting only incremental progress toward restoring infrastructure.

In 2017, ASCE estimated that if the trajectory holds, by 2025 an investment upwards of $4.5 trillion would be required to tackle the nation’s deferred maintenance and overdue upgrades.

The ASCE and other groups are calling for an increase in the federal gas tax to pay for improvements. It stands at 18.3 cents, and hasn’t budged since 1993. While Washington continues to mull options, Hawaii’s county and state governments must step up efforts to assess and prioritize problems and price tags.

In anticipation of sea level rise slated for at least 3 feet by the end of the century, Mayor Kirk Caldwell is requiring city departments to propose revisions to shoreline development rules and construction standards. That’s a good first step.

Another important task is scrutiny and improvement of procurement processes to ensure that taxpayer dollars are used as efficiently as possible, reducing construction delays and expensive change orders. Hawaii cannot afford to waste a dime.

Not when all but nine of our 132 state-regulated dams are classified as “high-hazard potential” — meaning a failure could cause significant loss of life or property. Not when there’s a $23 billion Hawaii transportation infrastructure funding gap over the next 20 years, according to the ASCE report. The list goes on.

There seems little chance for the state to raise its “D” (poor, at risk) ranking to a mediocre “C,” or an “adequate for now” “B” in the near future. But for the sake of future generations that will continue to pick up infrastructure bills, Hawaii needs to move forward with focused determination to earn a better grade.