Infastructure in America: The Woes of Bad Roads

Every one thinks the roads in their city are THE WORST (insert image of Jean Ralphio here). I’m sure many of us have complained about hitting a crater sized pothole on our way home from work, or grumbling over the bill from the mechanic after having to pay to get a broken wheel fixed. With the high rate of taxes that Americans pay, you would think something as simple as our roads would be kept in decent shape. Yet here I am avoiding the same pothole 6 months later, now getting filled with snow and ice and creating an even bigger mess under the asphalt. We all complain about our roads being the worst, but which of us are actually right? Which of us actually do live in a city that has been ranked as having the poorest road conditions in the country? Read on to find out…

Let’s get right to the meat of it, the cities with the absolutely worst-maintained roads. Take a wild guess! ….. I bet you said somewhere cold and in the northern part of the country right? That makes the most sense. Guess what, it’s not! The top 3 cities that are ranked as having the worst roads in the country all reside in the state where your first thought is warmth and beaches, NOT awful roads. Any other guesses?

The answer is, CALIFORNIA! I know, I was shocked too. A state with some of the highest taxes in our country and yet some of the worst road conditions in the US.

The other 7 cities that ranked in the top 10 makes sense as they’re all in the colder northern states, although I’m not sure what’s happening in Oklahoma? Tornado damage possibly?

On the flip side, which cities do you think you would find in a list of the ones with the best-maintained roads? If your guess was the Sunshine State, then you would be correct as two of Florida’s cities made it in the top 3.

There are a couple wrenches thrown in that don’t make sense. Looking at you Providence, RI and Portland, OR. Of course this does all come down to how the state splits up their funding. Some states need to spend more in security than in infrastructure, while others value safe roads over a bigger police force.

Now let’s take a look at the percentage of poor, mediocre, fair, and good road conditions for the cities that landed in the top and the bottom. You can find the complete list of cities here. This chart even takes a look at the average additional repair costs that are caused by the damage these bad roads are causing.

Did you city fall where you assumed it would or were you surprised to see how good, or bad, the road conditions really are where you live?