https://www.moneygeek.com/living/states-worst-road-infrastructure/
Top of chart:
... must be all the snow.... 
... but at least we don't spend.... never mind.
What's up with Road Island? Spends over 4 times per mile than most states! Economy of scale?
I think Rhode Island is in the middle of playing catch up from years of neglect. There’s a pretty significant project under way in downtown Providence rebuilding where Interstate 95 joins with US Route 6 and Interstate 195 which heads east into Massachusetts and Cape Cod.
The weather is a factor up here as well, the road salt eats everything including concrete and embedded rebar. Plowing is rough on asphalt too.
PA isn't even top 10? Did they never leave I76?
Was I just lucky when I lived in CA that the roads were spectacular unless it was raining? Even the sketchy farm roads were less rutted and potholed than anything out here.
I am calling shenanigans ... no WAY that Illinois is not on this list, not to mention Ohio!
I came to suggest that Pennsylvania was robbed.
I've driven all over Mich and Ohio...they can be bad but New Orleans ranks right up there with as bad as Detroit and Cleveland!
Ohio (minus Cleveland) is significantly better than Michigan. I'm surprised we are only 9th.
Captdownshift (Forum Supporter) said:I came to suggest that Pennsylvania was robbed.
Clearly they've never driven I-81 through Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.
Aaah the inefficiency of CalTrans....
I was curious so I looked at the data behind the "road roughness rank", and I have a strong hunch that this ranking is basically random noise produced by mushing numbers together in a way that doesn't make actual sense. Maybe I'm too harsh, but the methodology section at the bottom of the article doesn't actually explain the methodology so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.
This is the Federal Highway Administration data the rankings are based on: https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/policyinformation/statistics/2020/hm64.cfm
Taking a look at California numbers in each of the categories of road (rural interstate, urban interstate, rural arterial, and so on), the overwhelming majority of miles of road are in the acceptable range. Until you get to the last category "URBAN OTHER PRINCIPAL ARTERIAL". That category has way more miles of road than any other category and it's the roughest roads.
So: The state with the nation's biggest megalopolis has the most miles of urban roads, and those roads are rougher than interstates and freeways. Nothing surprising there. I spot checked against other states with big cities and they have the same general pattern.
The IRI statistic is probably fine for comparing roads in the same category (California urban interstate vs Texas urban interstate). But comparing all roads in every state with a single number... it's more about clickbait than accuracy.
aircooled said:What's up with Road Island? Spends over 4 times per mile than most states! Economy of scale?
Factoring in real estate cost? Note that Delaware is #2 in Capital Outlay
I think we found out how California has so much money alluded to in a thread a few weeks ago. You can have a lot of money if you don't fix broken things.
I am betting Louisiana is on there solely because of New Orleans. I don't believe there is a city in the US that has worse roads then New Orleans.
I've driven in most of the 50 states, and I've never found roads as consistently terrible as Michigan. I have NO idea how it's number 9. I would have thought that Michigan would be 1st, 2nd, AND 3rd somehow.
DrBoost said:I've driven in most of the 50 states, and I've never found roads as consistently terrible as Michigan. I have NO idea how it's number 9. I would have thought that Michigan would be 1st, 2nd, AND 3rd somehow.
I haven't driven in many of the other northern states, but of the states I have driven in, I have to agree. Frost heaves every 100 ft get *thump* so *thump* old *thump*
Yes, Michigan is the worst. When I drive north on 75 from OH there is no need to see the sign at the border. Its like falling off a cliff. Also everyone drives 10mph faster even though the road is 10 times worse.
I have to say that Missouri must have repaved everything in the last 5 years. I have never crossed that state without some kind of damage - flat tire, skipping CD, bent wheel, and one time I hit a pothole so bad that the rear view mirror fell off.
Gearheadotaku (Forum Supporter) said:Yes, Michigan is the worst. When I drive north on 75 from OH there is no need to see the sign at the border. Its like falling off a cliff. Also everyone drives 10mph faster even though the road is 10 times worse.
And they all pass on the right.
In reply to dculberson :
If they're passing on the right that's a you problem :P
We're #3....We're #3. The highest ranked anything to come out of Nebraska in a few decades outside of volleyball.
I believe it. The roads here are garbage. Part of the reason I have no desire to own anything too nice as it just gets destroyed between the salt and the potholes.
John Welsh said:I've driven all over Mich and Ohio...they can be bad but New Orleans ranks right up there with as bad as Detroit and Cleveland!
You can't compare New Orleans to those others. New Orleans has professional level bad streets. The others are amateurs.
In reply to pmallory :
Thank you for that insight. Having grown up in California (granted that was a few decades ago in the Bay Area) and now living in Michigan for 30 years, the road quality in general is in different leagues between the two states. Michigan is now starting to spend more on fixing the roads, so maybe someday we'll get up to Ohio and Indiana quality.
Living in California, something seems odd about this list. Our roads aren't great, but they aren't that bad. I can't possible imagine them being worse than the frozen states. Now California is a big state. Most of my traveling is close to or between large metro areas. Maybe the worst roads are in the more rural parts of the state. But something seems fishy to me. They are always pushing to increase the roadway budget and increase taxes for the roads. Cal Trans has been caught in the past doing slimy things like not repairing roads before an election or blowing their budget on un-needed vehicles that sat for years. Being rated the worst would help justify their money grab in this age of "If they are doing a poor job, give them more money."
AMiataCalledSteve said:In reply to dculberson :
If they're passing on the right that's a you problem :P
Ha! Maybe. But you could be going 85 in the middle lane and someone will come up behind you and drop to the right to pass. If you drop to the right first it only confuses them and they drop to the right and slow down behind you. Even the police pass on the right in Michigan! I have no idea why and I've given up fighting it.
Boost_Crazy said:Living in California, something seems odd about this list. Our roads aren't great, but they aren't that bad. I can't possible imagine them being worse than the frozen states. Now California is a big state. Most of my traveling is close to or between large metro areas. Maybe the worst roads are in the more rural parts of the state. But something seems fishy to me. They are always pushing to increase the roadway budget and increase taxes for the roads. Cal Trans has been caught in the past doing slimy things like not repairing roads before an election or blowing their budget on un-needed vehicles that sat for years. Being rated the worst would help justify their money grab in this age of "If they are doing a poor job, give them more money."
Not to buy into your Cal Trans conspiracy (but also Cal Trans can kick rocks) but California roads are way better than Washington roads, from what I've seen.
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