Where Repairs Reign

By Linda Rollinson

The word “infrastructure” has been in the news a lot lately. At press time, it seemed that everyone in the legislative and executive branches of our government have agreed that something needs to be done, but exactly how much and how to pay for it were still being discussed. It’s no secret that roads in bad condition affect the auto body and glass industries. In the case of the glass industry, poor roads are generally believed to affect glass repair rates even more than replacement.

So NWRD took great interest in a recent study the 2021 Report on America’s Infrastructure by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE). The ASCE concluded that, for the first time in 20 years, America’s infrastructure was out of the grade “D” range. ASCE reported that there are more than four million miles of public roadways in the U.S. and vehicle miles reached 3.2 trillion in 2019, an 18% increase since 2000.”

The report goes on to say that the “growing wear-and-tear to our nation’s roads has left 43% of our public roadways in poor or mediocre condition, a number that has remained stagnant over the past several years. The majority of these roads are on urban and rural collectors and the non-interstate system and force motorists to spend nearly $130 billion annually on extra vehicle repairs and operating costs.”

While Congress and the Administration fight over how and when to fix our infrastructure, you can remind your customers that repair helps fight the effects of a poor infrastructure. And, just like road maintenance, the more quickly you  address the need for repair, the less costly and less hassle getting that glass repaired will be.

While we don’t know in absolute terms how much of that $130 billion is spent on repair and replacement we do know in relative terms. Consider the states with the highest miles of roads in disrepair. These states have very high relative repair opportunities.

Take a look at the full chart on this page to see where your state falls. Remember that windshield repair doesn’t have to be a secret weapon in our fight against aging and substandard infrastructure— and make sure your customers know it as well.

Linda Rollinson is the chairperson of the National Windshield Repair Division of the Automotive Glass Safety Council™ as well as owner of Superior Auto Glass of Tampa Bay Inc. in New Port Richey, Fla. superiorautoglass@tampabay.rr.com

To view the laid-in version of this article in our digital edition, CLICK HERE.