TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2012
Across the country, cities, states, and local municipalities are responsible for the upkeep of their roads. With state budgets tightening, it can be difficult for states to determine whether or not to spend precious dollars repairing their roads or put the money elsewhere. Main Street released a study in 2011 evaluating the worst roads in the country. They included a number of factors in their evaluation, but did not include money spent on roads. Instead, they evaluated the percentage of each state’s roads deemed to be in “poor condition”, deficient or obsolete bridges, fatalities, and congestion on the roads. Each state was ranked on an indicator in order of worst to best.
 1. Louisiana
The worst state on record as of 2011 was Louisiana. Louisiana is understandably behind the pack because of hurricane damage, evacuation damage, and reconstruction, but the state has consistently ranked high in fatalities on the roads. In addition to fatalities, the general condition of roads is dreaded by truckers.
2. North Carolina
The runner-up is North Carolina which places in the worst 20 for all of the factors measured and ranks in the top ten for deficient bridges and congestion. Perhaps one of the reasons for this is they place at nearly the bottom of the line for states receiving federal money from the highway fund.
3. Oklahoma
Oklahoma and the iconic Route 66 came into spot number three. This historic road has the third highest amount of poor condition mileage and struggles with a substantial fatally problem.
4. West Virginia
West Virginia came in at number four despite having very low levels of traffic congestion; it makes the top five because of disturbingly high fatalities and for the condition of its roads and bridges.
5. Arkansas
At No. 5 is Arkansas who received this honor because of its 10th-highest percentage of roads in poor condition and its fifth-highest level of road fatalities in 2009. While Arkansas is one of the states who spends the most money on their roads, it doesn’t seem to be improving much so far.
Using the same criteria to evaluate the worst roads, Main Street came up with the five best roads in the country as well. These states might give drivers a little more to smile about. The top five states include New Mexico at number one, followed by North Dakota, Kansas, Indiana, and Delaware.
By Matt Reynolds - Google+
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