EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
of planning investment and delivery. Both countries are geographically large and the U.S. and Canadian governments provide services to 300+ million and 33 million people, respectively. The costs of building and maintaining some infrastructure services across these large geographies and populations often results in natural monopolies, operated by a mix of public and private enterprises and, increasingly, public-private partnerships. Regional, multi-jurisdictional special authorities and districts are common in transport, water and sanitation, and solid waste management services. Other long-term challenges confronting the provision of basic infrastructure services for local governments in North America include: (1) Aging infrastructure and deferred maintenance issues that present policymakers with difficult choices between maintaining current infrastructure and more costly replacement at a later date; (2) Demand for new infrastructure fueled by the continued population growth and expansion of urbanized areas; (3) Identifying and implementing financing and pricing mechanisms that are sustainable over time, politically viable, and that more effectively price the full costs—construction, operation, and maintenance, of infrastructure; and, (4) Equity and access issues, while relatively lesser in scope in comparison to other regions, nevertheless present challenges in terms of variation in service quality across jurisdictions and, in some notable exceptions, access to basic services for specific, small populations. Among these, financing to address infrastructure deficits remains the key challenge for the region. In 2012 the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) and National League of Cities (NLC) surveyed each of its municipal members to determine the state of their roads and water and wastewater systems.
Canada’s “Infrastructure Report Card” was a joint project of FCM, the Canadian Construction Association, the Canadian Public Works Association, and the Canadian Society of Civil Engineers. Of 346 municipalities surveyed, 123 responded, representing approximately half of the Canadian population. The respondents rated about 30% of the infrastructure as being in either “poor” or “very poor” condition. The replacement costs for these assets alone totals 171.8 billion CAD. The NLC survey garnered similar results. With 232 municipalities responding, most reported that infrastructure systems— drinking water, sanitation, solid waste, recycling, and electricity and gas—were poorly maintained and lack enough capacity to meet growing needs. Only roads and bridges, transit, and broadband received adequate quality ratings. Conclusions and recommendations A broad consensus exists among policymakers and other stakeholders in the region about the challenge of ongoing and increasing infrastructure deficits and the implications of not addressing those deficits for future economic growth, competitiveness, and quality of life in the U.S. and Canada. Beyond the need for reinvestment, there is near universal acknowledgement that future investments require better planning and integration between levels of government and across sectors. While a broad consensus exists among policy makers and stakeholders on the most pressing issues for infrastructure systems in the region, proposed solutions to these challenges are more controversial. The complexity of the public infrastructure systems described in this chapter, and the myriad challenges confronting these serv ices, require that reinvestment in, planning for, and ensuring the sustainability of the