Roads better or worse in your state?

[therealmjfox]

In reply to dmmcarthy, it's really variable. I don't live too far from him and my roads experience is mostly positive. However he's right that there has been some serious engineering incompetence. Three major freeways in the state have had to be rebuilt in a much shorter time than expected because of substandard paving. There's the one he mentioned, another ongoing on one of the state capitol's main freeways, and another one in the eastern part of the state where they used too thin a layer of asphalt and it fell apart under very light traffic.

I live off a 2 lane state road that is the primary route for loaded dump trucks headed from a major quarry to the major metro area. It's heavily used by log trucks headed for nearby chip mills too. In the 15 years I've lived here it's been resurfaced twice... so it seems that if a road is on their radar as one that gets a pounding, they take care of it. The problem Dan is talking about may be that in areas of new growth the state hasn't caught up to realizing there are a bunch of roads that they could previously ignore for decades, that are now getting a pounding.

 

[therealmjfox]

Seems like everybody thinks their roads suck. Maybe it's a national thing, we have a obsolete infrastructure and no reliable funding?

I think we just all like to complain.

Case in point I kept hearing about how our interstates are substandard compared to the vaunted German Autobahn. This past year I finally got to do some serious Autobahn driving on a business trip, and to my surprise our interstates are way superior (I'm talking about the physical infrastructure, NOT the skill of the drivers! Germany does beat us there).

This past fall I was also in Michigan driving around, including in and around Detroit, and did not find the roads to be nearly as bad as Michigander complaining led me to believe it would be.

 

[Travelover]

..........This past fall I was also in Michigan driving around, including in and around Detroit, and did not find the roads to be nearly as bad as Michigander complaining led me to believe it would be.

Things have changed dramatically since last fall - we had the second most severe winter in 130 years, with lots of sub zero days.

 

[DeereMann]

Bad here too, but improving.

The demographics in the U.S. have changed, as have the politics (won't get into that). Young folk are driving less & driving far more fuel efficient vehicles, so the gas tax 'user fee' doesn't cover it anymore, much less inflation increases.

Over here, the State wouldn't do anything, so counties started adding an annual 'wheelage tax' onto the state registration fees. Then the state passed a law to make the counties collect a minimum amount! So the county dropped the wheelage tax, and the state is back to squabbling about the whole thing.

So it's all messed up over here.

From the report link in earlier posting:
Almost two-thirds of the poor-condition rural interstate mileage is in just five states: California, Alaska, Minnesota, New York and Colorado.

Four states (California, Minnesota, Maryland and Connecticut) reported more than two-thirds of their urban interstates congested.

Minnesota
Rank in 2009: 42
Rank in 2008: 24
Rank in 2007: 15

Cause: tax cut tax cut tax cut.....oops!

 

[JDgreen227]

Things have changed dramatically since last fall - we had the second most severe winter in 130 years, with lots of sub zero days.

Oh yes...I can tell how bad it was, my garage approach pad, sidewalk to the house, and asphalt driveway have many new hairline cracks that were not there last fall...pad is nearing 20 years, sidewalk 8, and driveway 10...this is the worst winter I have ever seen in the mid-Michigan area, PERIOD. Nothing but continued extreme cold could have caused the cracking I see here, and I can imagine how the roads will be affected especially after having huge amounts of salt dumped on them.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

This weekend I drove thru MD, WV, PA, and OH. PA was by far the worse roads, lots of potholes. MD keeps claiming they need to increase taxes to improve the roads, but in reality our roads are the best in the area. Our roads are congested, but that is due to the Govt moving BRAC jobs here. Our state also robs from the highway fund to pay for other projects....

 

[Rustyiron]

MD does have first rate roads! There are just too many people using them!:thumbsup:

 

[dave1949]

This is a list by state of what percentage of road expenditures are paid for by state and local government fuel taxes and tolls.
Gasoline Taxes and Tolls Pay for Only a Third of State & Local Road Spending | Tax Foundation

Nationwide in 2010, state and local governments raised $37 billion in motor fuel taxes and $12 billion in tolls and non-fuel taxes, but spent $155 billion on highways.[3] In other words, highway user taxes and fees made up just 32 percent of state and local expenses on roads. The rest was financed out of general revenues, including federal aid.


This table adds federal fuel taxes to the state and local figures in the first table.
Road Spending by State Funded by User Taxes and Fees, Including Federal Gas Tax Revenues | Tax Foundation

If these amounts are correct, no state is using road fees and taxes for other purposes; they are supplementing road expenditures from general funds by 50% on a national average.

 

[PastTense]

Dave: Basically the substantial majority of the roads in this country have as their primary function property access, and it seems quite reasonable that property taxes should be used to fund these roads. The roads whose primary function is through traffic are funded by the user fees. I don't think there is much other supplementing.

 

[JDgreen227]

I have been saying VMT is the best method to raise funds for roads here in Michigan for over twenty years because the only fair method of paying for roads is by mileage driven by the individual user. Why should someone driving 4,000 miles a year with a 3,000 pound car have to subsidize the driver with a 6,000 pound truck who piles up 60,000 miles a year? And while I do agree gasoline taxes should be increased to provide funding, toll roads should have been established a long time ago. The Legislature here is incredibly short sighted, always has been and always will be.