North Carolina infrastructure grade slips to C-minus

Bloomberg News

North Carolina's infrastructure grade is slipping, according to the American Society of Civil Engineers, even as some of its Southeast peers are improving. 

It lowered the rating of North Carolina to C-minus in its January report from the C grade it gave it in its previous report, which it issued in 2013. 

The society has released reports on five Southeast states since it released its national infrastructure report in March 2025. 

The society raised the rating on Florida to C-plus in December 2025 from C in 2021.

It improved the rating of Louisiana to C-minus in November from the D-plus it gave it in 2017. 

The ASCE lifted the rating of West Virginia in December to D-plus from the D it gave the state in 2020. 

Finally, the society left Virginia's grade at C in August, unchanged from the society's report in 2022. 

In March 2025, the society gave the nation an overall C grade for infrastructure, an improvement on the C-minus grade it awarded in 2021. 

North Carolina's population has grown steadily since the end of World War II and since the turn of the century this growth has accelerated.

Since 2000, the state's population is up 40% to 11.2 million.

"With that population growth comes the challenges of the state's infrastructure to meet increased demands," the ASCE North Carolina report said. "These challenges are exacerbated by extreme weather and recently, storms such as Tropical Storm Helene have highlighted the need for increased funding, capacity and resiliency of the state's infrastructure."

The state's varied geography from coastal region to Piedmont to mountainous west creates "unique operational and maintenance challenges," the report said. A highway near Cape Hatteras that frequently washes out needs a new bridge. "The state also has a $5.97 billion dam repair backlog, including $2.83 billion for high-hazard dams. Further, EPA's 2022 Clean Watersheds Needs Survey identified $12.6 billion in sewer and wastewater treatment needs." 

Of the seven infrastructure categories in the society's North Carolina report, the categories with the lowest ratings were Dams and Wastewater, both rated D-plus. The state has some older dams, explained Chas Webb, region 4 governor for the American Society of Civil Engineers and chief author of the report. 

The Tennessee Valley Authority's Fontana Dam, in western North Carolina, is at 480 feet one of the highest dams east of the Mississippi. It was built in the early 1940s and needs work. 

Webb said the wastewater infrastructure suffered because it was "out of sight, out of mind." 

"North Carolina is one of the top states for business and, not surprisingly, has one of the fastest growing populations in the nation," said North Carolina Treasurer Brad Briner. "Ensuring that we have the infrastructure in place to support this continued growth and business activity is a top of mind issue for all leaders in our state."

North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein mentioned the ASCE's state report a month after it came out in a public event, Webb said. 

"What needs to be done is akin to a triage challenge," said John Hallacy, president of John Hallacy Consulting. Hallacy mentioned the issues of population growth, difficult topography, and heavy volumes at airports.

"There is always a balancing act between the engineering needs and the financing needs. Budgets will only bear so much and the raters always have some comment on whether debt levels are appropriate," Hallacy said.

"The condition of North Carolina's infrastructure is of interest to all levels of government; infrastructure responsibility varies by type of infrastructure," said a North Carolina Local Government Commission staff member, who declined to be identified. "In North Carolina, the state is primarily responsible for state-owned roads; airports are generally managed by local or regional authorities with state and federal support; and local governments and public authorities own many water and wastewater systems and are responsible for some roads.

Aaron Moody, spokesman for the North Carolina Department of Transportation, noted the state's growth, need to recover from Helene, increasing construction costs and said the state has the second longest state-maintained highway system in the country. 

About every two years the transportation department issues a report on its infrastructure goals, Moody said. 

To finance infrastructure, the state mainly uses state bonds and grant anticipation revenue vehicle, or Garvee, bonds, Moody said. The department has been issuing bonds based on the state's bond allocation to it. He said he was unsure how much allocation was left.

Moody said the department is always looking for new ways to fund the transportation system. Further funding will be needed for transportation infrastructure. 

The society's report rates the state's roads, bridges and aviation sectors C-minus. The department is fully responsible for most of the roads and bridges in the state and manages grants for airports. 

"North Carolina's continued economic growth depends on infrastructure systems capable of supporting the state's rapidly expanding population, evolving industries, and increasing business demand," said NC Chamber Vice President of Government Affairs Jake Cashion.

The factors affecting infrastructure in other Southeast states are similar in some ways and different in others.

In Florida, the energy grid is undergoing significant modernization, to improve reliability and resilience, the ASCE said in its December report on the state. "Florida's ports, rail, highways and airports continue to serve as global gateways and major economic drivers."

However, "Extreme weather, aging assets, and rapid population growth pose persistent challenges," the reports said. 

Ben Watkins, director of the Florida Division of Bond Finance, said he agreed with the report's acknowledgment of the state's investment in Gov. Ron DeSantis' Moving Florida Forward initiative and the $10 billion Florida Department of Transportation workplan. Since the report came out, DeSantis has launched major water infrastructure and resiliency grants. 

Watkins said he took "exception to [the report's] wokeness and [mention of] aging infrastructure… Our infrastructure in Florida is new, not old like [that of the] Northeast and Rust Belt states. Of course we need to maintain [it] and do."

While the United States population grew 10.5% from 2010 to 2025, West Virginia's population contracted by about 4.9%. "This loss in population underscores the issue of having adequate future revenue, user fees and tax base to maintain and operate existing infrastructure and provide additional funds for necessary expansion within the systems," the state's ASCE report said in December.

"Recent federal and state funding has made incremental improvements in the transportation network, water-related systems, and broadband statewide," the report said. "Yet, much of the state's infrastructure is aging, underfunded and at risk of not meeting future demand."

When West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey was contacted, Communications Director Lars Dalseide chose to address the Department of Transportation's activities. "With the approximately $2.6 billion Roads to Prosperity bond program already spent, WVDOT is shifting its emphasis from expansion to preserving and improving the state's approximately 39,000 miles of roads and more than 7,200 bridges."

The department is also moving forward on work on about 50 bridges in the Kenawa Valley and replacing the deck on the Eugene A. Carter Memorial Bridge, which is the state's most heavily trafficked bridge, Dalseide said. Municipal bonds will be one option for financing the state's infrastructure projects.