The Worst Highways in the USA

One of the biggest expenses for a truck company is undoubtedly the maintenance cost for the fleet. The main reason for the damage done to big rig trucks is the poor state of the roads in America.

The American Society of Civil Engineers estimates that the United States needs to invest over $4.5 trillion by 2025 in order to fix its highways.
Here are a few lists, each highlighting specific problems such as the rate of deadly crashes, traffic and poor design.

The Most Dangerous Highways

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the Federal Highway Administration produced a report on the top ten most deadly highways in the United States, based on fatality crash rates:

Florida US-1: (1079 accidents)
Florida US-41: (772 accidents)
Florida US-27: (614 accidents)
Texas US-83: (336 accidents)
Florida US-441: (442 accidents)
California I-40: (136 accidents)
Arizona I-40: (293 accidents)
Texas US-87: (197 accidents)
Florida US-17: (420 accidents)
Florida US-98: (465 accidents)
The Most Congested Roads in America
Everybody hates traffic, and when your job involves driving a vehicle, rush hours and congested roads can make it more difficult to earn a living.


The magazine Business Insider took a look at the report made by Texas A&M and ranked the ten worst freeways in America by cost of congestion per year and distance (almost all of them are in L.A.):

Los Angeles—Harbor Freeway/CA-110 NB: (Total cost of congestion: $95 million)
Los Angeles—Harbor Freeway/I-110 NB: (Total cost of congestion: $158.17 million)
Los Angeles—San Diego Freeway/I-405 NB (Total cost of congestion: $269.93 million)
New York—Van Wyck Expressway/1-678 NB (Total cost of congestion: $46.93 million)
Los Angeles—San Gabriel River Freeway/I-605 SB (Total cost of congestion: $703.45 million)
Los Angeles—Santa Monica Freeway/1-10 EB (Total cost of congestion: $203.99 million)
Los Angeles—Santa Monica Freeway/1-10 WB (Total cost of congestion: $169.84 million)
San Francisco— James Lick Freeway/I-80 EB (Total cost of congestion: $43.71 million)
San Francisco—Grove Shafter Freeway/CA-24 WB (Total cost of congestion: $43.34 million)
Los Angeles—1-110 SB (Total cost of congestion: $30.93 million)

Roads that need to be reconstructed

The Congress for the New Urbanism has singled out ten roads that ought to be rebuilt from scratch:

Scajaquada Expressway, Buffalo, New York
I-345, Dallas, Texas
I-70, Denver, Colorado
I-375, Detroit, Michigan
I-980, Oakland, California
Route 710, Pasadena, California
Inner Loop, Rochester, New York
I-280 Spur, San Francisco, California
I-81, Syracuse, New York
Route 29, Trenton, New Jersey

The States with the Worst Roads 

So far we’ve seen lists of highways that - for one reason or another - can be described as “bad”. But which are the States with the worst road conditions?

The American Society of Civil Engineers identified which states have the poorest roads. Business Insider summarizes their finding:
Washington, D.C.—1,507 miles of public roads, with a whopping 95% in poor condition
Connecticut—21,512 miles of public roads, 57% of which are in poor condition
Rhode Island—16,691 miles of public roads, of which 54% are in poor condition
California—195,834 miles of public roads, with half (50%) in poor condition
New Jersey—39,065 miles of public roads, 38% of which are in poor condition
Pennsylvania—120,091 miles of public roads, with 32% in poor condition
New York—114,365 miles of public roads, 28% of which are in poor condition
Washington—14,252 miles of public roads, 31% of which are in poor condition

Keep this list handy when planning your next itinerary and try to find an alternative route in case.