SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WGGB/WSHM) - Massachusetts just got its first-ever infrastructure report card — and it’s a D plus. Engineers said it’s a snapshot of what’s working, what’s aging, and what needs major investment. We’re taking a look at how local infrastructure looks in Springfield.

Thursday’s report card pointed to a common issue across the board Massachusetts’ infrastructure is aging and funding hasn’t kept up with the repairs needed. Thursday’s report card graded seven key systems people across the state rely on every day. Those systems include bridges, dams, drinking water, roads, stormwater, transit, and wastewater.

Only transit avoided the D range earning a C minus while every other category fell into poor condition. Looking at bridges alone, the state has more than 5,300, with an average age of about 65 years old. Hundreds are weight-restricted, and dozens are closed altogether.

Engineers said fixing them is possible, but it takes long-term funding, updated standards, and enough workers to keep up. We checked in locally with Springfield DPW Director Chris Cignoli. He said here in the city, infrastructure work is a mix of city projects and projects led by MassDOT.

He said the West Street Bridge is one of the major priorities right now in the city, “in the city of Springfield there’s a lot of bridges that are owned and maintained by MassDOT there are bridges that are owned and maintained by the city of Springfield, and roads owned and maintained by the city of Springfield,” Cignoli said, “it’s really working hand in hand with MassDOT and district 2 on funding for these projects and one of the main projects we’re working on now is our West Street Bridge that’s closed and we’re in the middle of design trying to get it back open.”

Western Mass News also spoke with residents who say they feel the wear and tear of our local infrastructure every day, especially on some of the city’s busier roads, “Sumner Avenue definitely one of the worser ones I would say, or Page Boulevard. Theres a lot of them,” Springfield Resident Bernard said, “definitely needs to be some improvements there’s also a lot of construction going on so it’s going to get worse before it gets better but there’s also needs to be a lot of maintaining done.”

Springfield DPW also told us funding and timelines are the big challenges for getting these projects done but they’re using road condition data to prioritize what gets paved first. They also asked residents to report problem spots through the city’s 311 system.

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