States With the Best and Worst Roads
Local potholes may annoy you, but the roads are probably worse elsewhere. Sitting in traffic is frustrating – and a waste of gas money – so take it easy with this report on the worst roads in the country. I hope your condition is not on it. But if that’s the case, well… you may feel justified in your anger.
This ranking looks at total public road miles in addition to the percentage of “acceptable” miles, which was taken from the most recent 2020 Bureau of Transportation data and then compared to existing 2015 data. The ranking also took into account the deaths in each state on the road. In both rankings, each state was assigned a normalized score, up to 10, and then their scores were averaged.
The worst roads in the USA
These five states have the worst roads:
- West Virginia (.06/10)
- New Mexico (1.43/10)
- Arizona (2.4/10)
- Mississippi (2.65/10)
- Hawaii (3.13/10)
In fact, the researchers called West Virginia’s assessment “pathetic,” pointing out that only 70% of the state’s roads are acceptable. However, between 2015 and 2020, Mississippi at least saw some improvement on its freeways, but not enough to keep it out of the top five.
The best roads in the USA
Here are the states with the best roads:
- Iowa (8.3/10)
- Minnesota (8.16/10)
- Virginia (7.96/10)
- North Dakota (7.55/10)
- Vermont (7.28/10)
If you live in Iowa, congratulations: 91% of your roads are in good condition – up 9% from 2015. spot because for every 100 million vehicle miles traveled, there were 1.07 road accidents.
Some other states also saw a sharp improvement in the five-year comparison. For example, Connecticut had 22% better roads in 2020 than they did in 2015, while Wisconsin saw a 10% increase and Maryland a 12% increase. Unfortunately, some have seen declines, such as Wyoming, which saw a fall of 11%, and Michigan, which saw a fall of 13%. Here are some tips for dealing with road rage , because if you live in West Virginia, you may need it.