We're living in the 21st century. Aren't we supposed to have cities made of crystal spires, everyone wearing the same silver jumpsuit, and nuclear powered flying cars? You would think paving a road shouldn't be that damn hard, but it often is. There are stretches of highway & interstate in various parts of the country that have been under construction for decades. It sounds like a small issue, but if you think about it, whether a government can efficiently & quickly fix a road can be emblematic of how it might deal with "larger" issues.
And even if the roads are smooth, you still have to deal with the nuts that have no business operating a mechanized conveyance. I've touched on these topics before, but I thought I might revisit it with some new info, while also looking at some recent automotive news, and throwing a few questions on the table.
Which State has the worst roads, and which State has the worst drivers?
For my mother, one of her big issues when it comes to local & state government is the quality of roads & what the plan is for ones full of potholes. God help your ears if you should be in the same car as her when she runs over a pothole that's been in the street for forever & a day. In the great State of Tennessee, instead of fixing the bloody things, TDOT (Tennessee Department of Transportation) usually thinks it a better idea to put a thick metal plate that bucks up from the road about 5-inches on the pothole, for cars to drive over at 60+ mph. It just does wonders for a vehicle's alignment.
In California, it's maddening when you're trapped on the "405" for an hour & then pass Caltrans (California Department of Transportation) construction, where one guy is working & the other guys are watching him work. But we are talking about a state that's home to the eighth circle of Hell (also known as the California DMV), so nothing surprises.
There are 3,967,159 miles of American highway. Building a mile of that road is open to the same political vices as other programs that suffer from waste, fraud, and abuse. Politicians vie for transportation funds so they can build "Bridges to Nowhere." The specific placement of a new road or upgrading an old one, and the traffic that will pass through certain points within an area because of it, can have positive or negative effects on businesses & communities. There's bid rigging & kickbacks, which may or may not help someone in a high place get his brother-in-law's construction company the contract. And then, let's hope the brother-in-law's construction company doesn't use substandard materials to build the overpass. At the beginning of last year, the Department of Transportation was investigating 228 contract and grant fraud cases across the country.
On the Federal level, in 2005 Congress passed & President Bush signed into law a $286 billion transportation bill, which governs federal surface transportation spending through 2010. Within the 2005 transportation bill, there was also 6,371 earmarks. The economic stimulus bill passed earlier this year dedicated $48 billion to transportation infrastructure. However, the Department of Transportation was saying 4 years ago they needed $500 billion over 6 years to deal with congestion & fix everything that's weathered, broken, or in need of replacement. The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) 2009 Report Card on America's infrastructure estimated a need for about another trillion in funding over 5 years to substantially improve bridge & road conditions.
According to the latest report from TRIP, a national nonprofit transportation research group:
- 33% of United States' roads are in poor or mediocre condition.
- 25% of United States' bridges are structurally deficient or functionally obsolete.
- 44% of America’s major urban highways are congested.
- Overall, 72% of the Interstate Highway System is rated in good condition. But, age, weather conditions, and burgeoning traffic are eroding ride quality in many states. In eight states, more than 20% of the Interstate highways were rated as mediocre or poor.
- Driving on roads in need of repair costs U.S. motorists $67 billion a year in extra vehicle repairs and operating costs – $335 per motorist.
- Traffic congestion costs American motorists $78.2 billion a year in wasted time and fuel costs. Americans spend 4.2 billion hours a year stuck in traffic.
- The average commuter rail passenger coach is 24 years old. 62% are being used beyond their replacement age.
- 59% of transit buses need to be replaced within six years.
- More than 20% of city roads do not pass the basic test for pavement and ride quality.
The House of Representatives has been working on a
new transportation bill that would channel $450 billion in funds to states over six years to upgrade roads, bridges and transit systems. However, movement on the bill is stalled, since there is no agreement on how to go about paying for it.
So which cities & States have the worst roads? According to TRIP & the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials' 2009 Rough Roads Report:
So what about specific roads, interstates, bridges, and intersections? When judging this, it can be more than just the physical condition of the road, but also traffic, scenery, and other intangibles. Last month, the NY Times' Freakonomics blog had a "Worst Roads in America" competition, in which readers of the blog submitted their suggestions. Top transportation scholars at the University of Southern California whittled through the submissions and picked ten, of which New York's Cross Bronx Expressway was picked as the worst. The list leans East Coast, but from what I hear Massachusetts deserves it.
Here, in no particular order, are the top 10:
- The Cross Bronx Expressway in New York City.
The Cross Bronx Expressway. An oxymoron if ever there was one. It is a symphony of delay, dereliction, and despair. You get your first introduction by sitting in a cacophony of traffic at the George Washington Bridge toll plaza. The number of roads that funnel their cars to "the Bridge" look like a half-eaten bowl of linguine. Then the true nightmare begins as you hit New York City and begin the slow, desperate crawl through the Bronx. You can only wonder what Robert Moses was thinking when, like a kid with a shovel at the beach, he just dug a 100+ foot trench through the borough, displacing thousands of families so that hundreds of thousands of cars can crab their way at speeds upwards of 4 m.p.h. while being whipsawed by 48-foot tractor trailers arriving from points south and east after many hours of caffeine/Red Bull/?-aided driving alertness. Oh, and that is on a good day!
- Route-18 through New Brunswick, New Jersey.
- Fifth Avenue in Brooklyn, New York between 70th and 30th Streets.
- Trying to get on "The Capital Beltway" (AKA I-495).
The on-ramp to the Beltway near the Woodrow Wilson bridge headed out of Alexandria, Va., into Maryland made me meditative. This scenic two-mile stretch of the on-ramp to I-495 has been a favorite place to while away an hour or two in my car pondering Buddhist philosophy as I watch a caterpillar crawling past me and 300 other cars stuck at the same intersection. Green light, red light. A fleeting chance to pass through three intersections. Another light change. Now the ethereal cacophony of honking drivers hoping to enter the on-ramp into I-495 rush-hour traffic at a rate of 5 miles per hour. Life is random and beautiful. Construction workers on this stretch of road also lean to zen Buddhism as they examine the weather, the car dealership across the street, and each other, slowing the rhythm of their months of work.
- The stretch of I-80 that runs through Nebraska. I thought this was an interesting selection for this list, because according to the person who submitted it, the road wasn't bad because of potholes or an overall shitty condition. It was selected for the list because they thought the road was boring. The submitter claimed it was like driving through "desolation" for six hours.
- The cluster "truck" that is the tangled morass of merges leading to the Pulaski Skyway in Jersey City, New Jersey.
- The "Big Dig" in Boston, Massachusetts.
The "Big Dig" — the megaproject to reroute Interstate 93, the chief highway through the city of Boston, into a 3.5-mile tunnel under the city — has amassed an infamous reputation. As the most expensive highway project in the U.S. — the total now stands at a staggering $22 billion — it gave cause for longtime Congressman Barney Frank to quip, "Rather than lower the expressway, wouldn’t it be cheaper to raise the city?"
What truly makes this among the worst stretches of highway in the U.S. is for all the project’s lofty aspirations of alleviating the chronic congestion on I-93 that was predicted to have 16-hour traffic jams by 2010, the project has incurred criminal arrests, escalating costs, death, leaks, poor execution, use of substandard materials, and has had negligible impact of traffic. As my mother would testify to, trips at rush hours are longer and more congested, rather than less.
- MA-2 in Massachusetts.
- Gano Street on-ramp for I-195 in Providence, Rhode Island.
- The Tobin Bridge (AKA The Mystic River Bridge) in Boston, Massachusetts.
The Tobin
I take the road most traveled,
With pot-holes galore and water dripping,
The pavement shattered,
The workers lost and mingling.
I take the road most traveled,
With the two levels crumbling,
A two-hour commute with drivers enraged,
And the fast-pass gate shuttering after every car.
I take the road most traveled,
The tourists lost and clueless,
Backing out of the fast-pass lane confused,
With the road trembling all the while.
MSN has created their own list of the "most treacherous, traffic-clogged roads in America." There's a bit more West Coast flavor with this one. So, in no particular order.....
- Los Angeles, U.S. Route 101 to I-405 Interchange.
Nowhere in the nation (except parking lots) do cars spend so much time bumper-to-bumper than at the juncture of the 101 and 405 freeways in Los Angeles, which link the east side of the city with the downtown area. The statistics alone are enough to provoke road rage: 318,000 drivers per day use this juncture, and they spend 72 hours of their lives stuck in traffic annually. The rush hour window here is a staggering five to eight hours per day, and during that time, you'll spend twice as long on the road as when it's traffic-free — which makes for the highest travel time index rating in the nation. If you must drive it, make sure your Bluetooth is fully charged and your iPod is locked and loaded. Speaking of which . . . you'd be wise to avoid eye contact with other drivers: Car-to-car shootings are not a relic of the past. There have been six so far this year, although most were the result of gang violence rather than road rage.
- Colorado, U.S. Route 550, aka Million Dollar Highway, from Ouray to Silverton.
- Atlanta's I-285 at I-85 Interchange, aka Spaghetti Junction.
The hip-hop duo Outkast, Atlanta natives, named a song after this gnarly web of highway. The lyrics are foreboding: "Be careful where you roam cause you might not make it home. Don't you dare ever get lost cause you get caught up in that sauce." The junction is a five-level interchange (think clover leaf above clover leaf above clover leaf) with multiple ramps and smaller roads feeding into it. The American Highway Users Alliance gave Spaghetti Junction a grade of F, indicating that stop-and-go traffic prevails here most of the time, causing 133,000 hours of traffic delays each year. The time to avoid Spaghetti Junction at all costs: in winter, when a combination of rain and freezing nighttime temps can turn the many ramps and overpasses into a labyrinthine ice skating rink, causing dozens of accidents and epic delays.
- Chicago, Circle Interchange.
- Maine, U.S. Route 1.
- New York, I-95, Cross-Bronx Expressway.
- San Diego, I-5.
All-you-can-drink specials at Tijuana bars attract hordes of SoCal residents each weekend — many of them San Diego college students and other minors who are lured the 15 miles across the border by Mexico's lower drinking age (18). Hence, the stretch of Interstate 5 leading north from Tijuana becomes a swerving, high-speed DUI minefield on weekend nights, and each year 10,000 to 15,000 people are arrested for driving while intoxicated in San Diego County. Occasionally, all-night binges combine tragically with one of the most traffic-clogged early morning commuting routes in the country — both in San Diego and leading north through Orange County.
- Nevada, I-15.
- Providence, Rhode Island, I-95 at the I-195 Interchange.
- Louisiana, I-10.
Now, what about the worst drivers? A AAA survey released yesterday found that 35% of drivers feel "less safe" than they did five years ago. What makes this strange is that 2008 (37,313 fatalities) was the safest year to drive a car since 1961 (36,285 fatalities). If you take into account population differences between 2008 & 1961, last year has the lowest fatality rate for motor vehicles on record.
So what gives? According to AAA, a significant percentage of the public has anxiety about driver distractions (i.e. drivers text messaging while driving).
Distracted driving was top-of-mind for motorists, with 80 percent of motorists rating distracted driving as a very serious threat to their safety. Even those who admitted to distracted driving acknowledged they were putting themselves in danger. For example, more than half of those who admitted to reading or sending text messages or e-mails while driving indicated they were much more likely to have an accident.
At the end of May, GMAC released State rankings from their annual National Drivers Test, which looks at how knowledgeable people are about driving; basically if you could pass the written test for a Driver's license. They poll 5,000 people across the country with 20 basic driving questions. One flaw I see in this is that someone could be book smart & road dumb. Just because someone knows the proper safe distance to keep from the car in front of 'em, doesn't mean they actually drive that way.
Overall, the Northeast had the lowest average test scores at 74.5 percent, and the South had the highest failure rate at 41 percent. The Midwest had the highest average test scores at 79 percent and the lowest failure rates at 15 percent. (Test-takers need to score at least 70 percent on the test to pass.)
So why are some regions better drivers than others? "I don't know if it is a function of people that drive in very congested areas, very busy areas, lose sight of the rules of the road because it might be a little different there," Bontrager said. Another theory: people in states with large metropolitan areas tend to take public transit more often and lose some of their driving skills.
Here's the top & bottom of the list of State with the most knowledgeable drivers.
Most Knowledgeable Drivers | Least Knowledgeable Drivers |
---|
1. Idaho | 51. New York |
1. Wisconsin | 50. New Jersey |
3. Montana | 49. Hawaii |
4. Kansas | 48. California |
5. South Dakota | 47. Georgia |
5. Nebraska | 46. Rhode Island |
7. Utah | 45. Massachusetts |
8. Wyoming | 44. Washington D.C. |
8. Iowa | 43. Florida |
8. Oregon | 42. Connecticut |
8. Minnesota | 41. Maryland |
12. Arkansas | 40. South Carolina |