The value of public infrastructure assets in Newfoundland and Labrador amounted to $6.0 billion in 2007. The average age of the combined five public infrastructure assets has dropped slightly in 2006 and 2007 after almost 26 years of continuous increases. The average age went from 13.9 years in 1979 to a peak of 17.4 years in 2004 and 2005. It then lessened for the first time since 1979 to 17.3 in 2006 and 17.2 in 2007.
This recent reduction in age was due to increased investment in roads and bridges in the last few years. Higher investments in wastewater treatment facilities since the late 1990s also contributed to this trend reversal. In contrast, water supply and sewer systems continued to age.
Despite this recent reduction in age, the long ageing trend maintained Newfoundland and Labrador's public infrastructure above the average national age in 2007. This province, along with Quebec, had the fourth oldest public infrastructure in 2007, behind Nova Scotia, Manitoba and Saskatchewan.