Page 19 - The City of Greensboro Conditions and Trends

CITY OF GREENSBORO COMPREHENSIVE PLAN CONDITIONS & TRENDS

The Impact of Aging Infrastructure

The Trend

Many cities throughout the US are finding the responsibility of maintaining their public infrastructure systems increasingly
costly. The Great Recession significantly reduced the revenue streams of many cities and prompted greater restraint in
issuing debt to fund major capital investments. Meanwhile, the overall condition of public infrastructure systems
throughout the nation, as reported by the American Society of Civil Engineers, has steadily degraded. The role of federal
and state governments in subsidizing construction of new infrastructure, primarily highways and major thoroughfares,
without providing corresponding funds for maintenance of those facilities has created perverse incentives for municipal
governments to press forward with expanding systems that already exceed their financial means to maintain. Cities have
attempted to respond to these challenges in a variety of ways, with varying degrees of success, which can provide some
insights for Greensboro.

Background

Public infrastructure systems form the bulk of Greensboro’s capital assets. Maintaining and, when necessary, replacing
these systems and their components is an essential aspect of the City’s responsibility to protect the public health, safety,
and welfare. Greensboro has experienced greater than average economic impacts from the recession and, by some
measures, has not yet fully recovered. Consequently, it is likely to be affected by the growing struggle to maintain its
infrastructure systems as strongly as other communities are, if not more so. Among the infrastructure systems operated
and maintained by Greensboro are:
Streets, bridges, sidewalks, and paved greenways Traffic signal system and telecommunications
Clean water supply reservoirs and distribution Public housing
Storm and sanitary sewer network Fire stations
Water and waste water treatment facilities City administrative facilities
Parks and recreational facilities

Investments in public infrastructure systems can be prioritized in ways that effectively build value, support the community’s
preferred development patterns, and maximize the return on public investments. As noted by Chuck Marohn of Strong
Towns, extending and adding infrastructure capacity without funding for appropriate maintenance and replacement of
these assets drains value from the community and obstructs preferred development patterns. Expanding the asset
inventory without a corresponding increase in the annual allocation of maintenance funding is not fiscally sustainable. The
condition of these assets will inevitably decline over time to a point where they become unusable.

Cities employ a range of strategies to meet the maintenance needs of their aging infrastructure systems.

 The traditional approach for dealing with urban stormwater focuses on flow-control, detention, and retention. An
alternative approach focuses on practices such as filtration, infiltration, and treatment. Stormwater infrastructure
developed through this low-impact design approach enhances ecological functions, can be cost-effective, and
serves as a civic asset.
 In limited cases, cities can abandon dedicated but unused rights-of-way to adjoining private property owners, which
return land to the property tax roll, thereby increasing the city’s revenue stream. This strategy also reduces the
city’s maintenance responsibility for unused rights-of-way.

DRAFT -19- March 15, 2018