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The U.S. Department of Transportation released updated data about the quality of roads and bridges in every state last summer. They measured each state by the percentage of roads that were in poor or mediocre condition, and the percentage of bridges that were structurally deficient or functionally obsolete. Here are the results:
26.1% - Virginia
26.1% - Washington
26.8% - Maryland
27.2% - Missouri
27.4% - Michigan
27.9% - California
29.0% - Louisiana
30.5% - North Carolina
31.4% - Kentucky
32.4% - New Hampshire
32.9% - Maine
33.1% - Vermont
34.9% - Connecticut
35.3% - West Virginia
35.5% - New Jersey
38.8% - New York
42.2% - Pennsylvania
43.9% - Hawaii
52.5% - Massachusetts
56.5% - Rhode Island
Not surprised to see Washington as the 8th worst. Road conditions in Seattle are legitimately embarrassing. Paved roads are way outdated and chewed up, most streets don't even have visible paint as the paint city-wide has basically faded off of the pavement, and roughly 40% of streets in North Seattle don't even have sidewalks! I love the City of Seattle, but the city infrastructure is basically at the level for a small town... certainly not a big city. We might as well have dirt roads considering how awful our streets are maintained.
To add insult to injury, Seattle's traffic lights aren't fixed on metal poles. Instead, they hang from electrical wires, and so traffic lights sway in the wind like a chandelier about to fall. I'm from Southern California and I've honestly never seen such abysmal looking traffic lights or streets anywhere in California.
I guess percentage of bad roads doesn't really tell how bad those particular roads are. I can point out a few craters along my commute that I have to remember to avoid. It's especially bad now that there's been a few days of rapid freezing and thawing.
That anywhere is worse than CA rather surprises me.
Why? Areas of the country that get regular snow in the winter statewide (like NJ and CT for example, states that both perform poorly in this little study) have roads that are constantly beaten up from the salt and plowing. Potholes big enough to damage multiple cars have and do appear on highways and other roads each year. This article is about a recent area of the Garden State Parkway (actually located in my town - Cranford) that had a massive pothole that damaged (flat tires) over 12 cars in one morning. Garden State Parkway potholes sidelined 12 cars during morning commute | SILive.com This is a pretty normal occurrence in winter and happens all around the region, and probably others that get snow and ice and cold.
Additionally, states like NJ and pretty much anywhere East are older states with older infrastructure. Look at the states in the worst tier for bridges:
32.9% - Maine
33.1% - Vermont
34.9% - Connecticut 35.3% - West Virginia 35.5% - New Jersey
38.8% - New York
42.2% - Pennsylvania
43.9% - Hawaii 52.5% - Massachusetts
56.5% - Rhode Island
All but one East Coast states, and most of those in the Northeast. Old areas, older infrastructure = poorer infrastructure. We have a lot of old bridges in NJ.
Hawaii is the outlier - wonder why? Does the salty air have anything to do with it?
The U.S. Department of Transportation released updated data about the quality of roads and bridges in every state last summer. They measured each state by the percentage of roads that were in poor or mediocre condition, and the percentage of bridges that were structurally deficient or functionally obsolete. Here are the results:
26.1% - Virginia
26.1% - Washington
26.8% - Maryland
27.2% - Missouri
27.4% - Michigan
27.9% - California
29.0% - Louisiana
30.5% - North Carolina
31.4% - Kentucky
32.4% - New Hampshire
32.9% - Maine
33.1% - Vermont
34.9% - Connecticut
35.3% - West Virginia
35.5% - New Jersey
38.8% - New York
42.2% - Pennsylvania
43.9% - Hawaii
52.5% - Massachusetts
56.5% - Rhode Island
Yeah, not surprised that Illinois has the worst roads. It's like urban off-roading and thanks to our incompetent state government they won't be fixed for a while.
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Does the salty air have anything to do with it?
