America’s infrastructure earns its highest rating yet

By Celine Gomes

The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) has released its 2025 Report Card for America’s Infrastructure, featuring contributions from Farshid Vahedifard, Professor and Louis Berger Chair in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. Published every four years, the report assesses the condition and performance of the nation’s infrastructure. This year’s report marks a historic high, with an overall grade of C, which is the highest average since the report's inception in 1998.

Since his appointment to ASCE’s Committee on America’s Infrastructure (CAI) in 2023, which advises on and writes ASCE policy reports including the Report Card for America’s Infrastructure, Vahedifard has played a key role in shaping two critical sections of the 2025 report: Dams and Levees. Both categories showed measurable improvement from the 2021 assessment, each rising from a D to a D+. With research from Vahedifard’s team cited throughout both chapters, the updated grades signal meaningful, if modest, progress in infrastructure sectors historically marked by serious challenges.

The improved grade for dams is largely attributed to expanded funding sources, including a historic, one-time investment through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), which provided a much-needed boost to dam safety and rehabilitation efforts.

Similarly, the levee sector benefited from several initiatives, including the development of national levee safety guidelines, enhancements to the National Levee Database, and the adoption of best practices for levee management.

While these gains are encouraging, they also underscore the ongoing need for sustained investment and attention. With the $1.2 trillion in federal infrastructure funding set to expire in 2026, the report stresses the urgency of continued momentum. As the dams section notes, “the average age of our nation’s dams is over 60 years, while seven out of ten dams nationwide are expected to reach 50 years by 2025.” Additionally, “twenty-three million Americans nationwide live and work behind a levee”—highlighting the critical importance of ensuring these systems remain safe and resilient. 

Founded in 1852, The American Society of Civil Engineers is the country’s oldest national civil engineering organization. It represents over 160,000 civil engineers in private practice, government, industry, and academia who are committed to advancing the science and the profession of civil engineering, and protecting public health, safety, and welfare. The ASCE Report Card has grown from its first edition in 1998 and has become a trusted resource for policymakers at the local, state, and federal levels. 

Vahedifard joined Tufts in 2023 after more than a decade of teaching and research at Mississippi State University. In addition to his faculty appointment at Tufts, he is the Lead for Resilient and Equitable Infrastructure, at the United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment, and Health (UNU-INWEH). 

Vahedifard studies the resilience and adaptation of critical infrastructure, including levees and dams, amid extreme events in a changing climate with an emphasis on addressing the needs and challenges historically underserved and socially vulnerable communities face. He aims to develop transformative solutions for emerging issues related to climate-resilient communities and infrastructure systems while incorporating environmental justice. 

Learn more about Professor and Berger Chair Farshid Vahedifard.