With road warriors in mind, we compared the fifty U.S. states to seek out the 15 states with the best roads in America.
People and products are transported on U.S. roads across a distance of 3.2 trillion miles – or over three hundred spherical journeys between the Earth and Pluto. It is a fact that Americans are driving a lot and vehicle miles traveled hit a record high in 2017. With the extra additional traffic on the roads, it’s no surprise that America’s congestion drawback is stagnating, and adding a few extra lanes or new roads definitely won’t solve the problem. The estimations are that 2 out of each 5 miles of the nation’s urban interstates are engorged. Moreover, in 2014, Americans spent 6.9 billion hours delayed in traffic – 42 hours per driver. However, America is spending more money to create, maintain, and improve the roads, and it’s paying off – give or take some stretches of pavement and a couple of bridge spans. Moreover, Trump’s administration has recently passed a $1 trillion infrastructure set up which will definitely improve the road quality. So, there are some states known as the best when it comes to their transportation system. But according to our research, the cities with best infrastructure in US are not always in the states with best infrastructure. Nevertheless, one thing is for sure – the cities with best highways are more developed than other cities. After all, throughout history, transportation had a key role when it comes to the American economy, deciding where and when growth happens.
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While researching about American roads, we noticed that people around the world are also concerned about roads in their countries. If you live in India, for example, and you are wondering which state has the best roads, then check out the State of States report. Moreover, to learn more about best roads in the world, do check our list of countries with the best roads in the world in 2018. In these countries, rural interstates are definitely shaping up. However, their urban counterparts are becoming worse. Apparently, the traffic congestion is something that we will have to learn to live with.
However, these trends are quite offset by excellent news regarding fatalities. According to the US news, from 2006 to 2008 more than 35000 Americans died in accidents which is more than double the number of homicides. While researching about American roads as well as drivers, we came across newest information on traffic congestion, road and bridge condition, as well as road safety. So we included all that in our examination of the state of U.S. states when it comes to road infrastructure.
In order to create our list of the states with the best roads in America, we decided to use U.S.News’ best states for transportation ranking, CNBC’s article on US states with the best infrastructure in America, as well as WalletHub‘s report on best and worst states for summer roads trips. We ranked the states by their infrastructure score, deficient bridges and average commute to work time.
Now, let’s see which are the 15 states with the best roads in America.
15. Kentucky
In Kentucky, traffic congestions are a rarity, since the roads are well-maintained. Don’t let their bluegrass fool you because they could make some improvements on their bridges.
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14. Ohio
Ohio ranked 14th on our list of 15 states with the best roads in America. With major ports on both sides of Ohio river, big lakes, busy highways, and rail network, the State of Ohio is on the move.
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13. Indiana
With major ports on the Ohio River and the Lake Michigan as well as robust rail network and well-maintained roads, Indiana is well equipped to get goods where they need to be.
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12. Michigan
We are continuing our list with the state which ranks 9th in road quality rankings. However, what put this state lower on this list, are quite low positions in bridge quality and commute time rankings.
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11. Tennessee
Tennessee had 242 out of 400 points in 2017 when it comes to infrastructure. The average time needed to commute to work in this state is about 24 minutes.
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10. Texas
Texas ranked 10th on our list of 15 states with the best roads in America. There is no state which transports more goods than Texas. They transport more than 35 million tons of cargo each year. Texas’s two airports are among the busiest airports in the world. Their highway network has more than 268,000 square miles.
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9. Montanta
This state is one of top 5 U.S. states when it comes to the commute time, and it’s within the top 15 when it comes to the road quality.
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8. Delaware
When it comes to bridge quality, this state is among the top ten, while it’s significantly lower in commute time and road quality rankings.
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7. Arizona
Although Arizona found its place among the top 5 states with the best bridge quality, it ranked pretty low in commute time rankings.
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6. Georgia
Georgia’s roads are among the best in the country. The roads, flyovers, and bridges are one of the best in the country, but the traffic system has to be improved.
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5. Florida
Did you know that Florida has the second-highest Latino population as well as one of the largest African-American populations in the country? Apparently, they are doing great and accepting challenges to improve the road system.
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4. Minnesota
We continue our list with Minnesota. This state is a prime example of how infrastructure is an issue that never goes away.
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3. Wyoming
Being among the top three states for road quality, and the second best when it comes to the commute time, it’s no wonder that Wyoming ranks this high on our list.
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2. Utah
The State of Utah is working hard on its infrastructure, what reflects in some of the best roads and bridges in the whole country.
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1. Nevada
Nevada ranks first on our list of states with the best roads in America because the state is trying its best to keep ahead of rapid growth. This state is improving despite the big setbacks during the great recession.
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