Yay Michigan! A Tesla (and, therefore, the unimpeachable Elon Musk) study says Michigan has the worst roads in the nation. Anyone who lives here already knew this.
https://www.mlive.com/news/2019/01/michigan-has-worst-roads-in-us-study-says.html
Personally, I'm giving PA an honorable mention for the Pennsylvania Turnpike.
In reply to kazoospec :
It don't end w/ the PA Turnpike 
In other news, water is wet. 
fasted58 said:In reply to kazoospec :
It don't end w/ the PA Turnpike
The turnpike is downright amazing compared to say Route 30 or any backroads at all anywhere in the state.
Illinois has to be a close second. Everything in this craphole of a state is crumbling!
Everyone in the US claims they have the worst roads in the US. Only Michiganites (Michaganers?) are correct.
The Quebecois have a good case to make, but they're not in the US and the actual fun aspect of the back roads makes up for the surface.
RevRico said:fasted58 said:In reply to kazoospec :
It don't end w/ the PA Turnpike
The turnpike is downright amazing compared to say Route 30 or any backroads at all anywhere in the state.
I live in northern Delaware, just at the west end of the arc. Due to the limits of 18th-century surveying technology, the arc is offset from the long straight border intersection where Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Delaware come together.
Route 896 runs north from DE into PA. It passes through the corner of MD, for maybe a quarter mile.
PA 896 is typically full of patches and goes years without real work. The DE part is in good shape and relatively well maintained. The quarter-mile MD stretch is flawless, always has fresh paint, and I'm pretty sure gets a full mill and repave about every 3 years.
I live in PA and I think I have driven every actual mile of the turnpike in the last 8 months. out to ohio and back (twice) up to NY and back, down to/around philly all the time and out to NJ.
It's fine. paved. smooth. what the heck? Where do you people drive that the turnpike is "bad"?! Try going out to north jersey sometime.
RevRico said:fasted58 said:In reply to kazoospec :
It don't end w/ the PA Turnpike
The turnpike is downright amazing compared to say Route 30 or any backroads at all anywhere in the state.
Or I-80.
But at 360-odd miles long as they traverse the state, both highways are in constant need of resurfacing somewhere. The PATP near Philly was recently redone and isn't too bad right now.
I agree Pennsylvania is worth a (dis)honorable mention, at least, but the worst stretch of road I've ever driven was 1-9 in New Jersey. The entire surface of the road consisted of pieces of broken concrete held together with layer upon layer of asphalt patches. It was, in a word--memorable.
At least we're number one for something!
Thank goodness it’s finally official.
kazoospec said:Yay Michigan! A Tesla (and, therefore, the unimpeachable Elon Musk) study says Michigan has the worst roads in the nation. Anyone who lives here already knew this.
https://www.mlive.com/news/2019/01/michigan-has-worst-roads-in-us-study-says.html
Personally, I'm giving PA an honorable mention for the Pennsylvania Turnpike.
My wife lived in Michigan for a year or so back in 2005 for an internship. She mentioned how bad the roads were in Michigan versus Ohio, and so many Michigan people claimed it was because Ohio has "all those toll roads." Being in Ohio myself, and only knowing of one toll road, that really confused me. Then I decided to do some research and it turns out Michigan has more toll revenue than Ohio thanks to the toll bridges. I think Michigan roads are bad because (a) they build so many of them out of concrete despite having so many hard freezes that are bad for concrete, and (b) they've got too many miles of road to maintain for their population and tax base. Ohio is about half the size geographically but has a larger population.
And I think Ohio roads aren't all that good, but they sure don't compare to Michigan!!
IMO, a big part of the reason our roads are E36 M3 is that the economic downturn of the 00s and early teens hit us worse than most, and the state was running huge deficits for many years, so the money just wasn't there. Combine that with population loss, especially in our largest city and surrounding area, and the natural wear and tear that roads experience in a cold climate, and you have a recipe for the worst roads in the country.
It's bad enough that it will definitely affect my next car purchase. I wanted the performance package on my SHO to get the extra coolers and a few other things, but I now regret it, as the stiffer ride isn't worth it. The trend toward giant wheels and rubber-band tires doesn't help a bit, either.
We're number 1! We're number 1! We're numb...
I dunno. They were pretty bad before 2008 as well. I remember taking my Miata through Detroit in 2001 and being seriously concerned I was going to lose a wheel. I went through Sarnia every trip after that.
I think it's mostly the combination of a brutal climate and a total lack of maintenance. It's like Michigan was paved in the 70's and nothing's been done since.
The 17" wheels and snows I put on the Yukon are better springs than the 22" stockers.
It always amazes me that Alaska doesn't win this award. I wonder if it is because they close so many roads for part of the year, they have much lighter traffic, or what they drive on isn't really considered a road at all.
Keith Tanner said:I dunno. They were pretty bad before 2008 as well. I remember taking my Miata through Detroit in 2001 and being seriously concerned I was going to lose a wheel. I went through Sarnia every trip after that.
I think it's mostly the combination of a brutal climate and a total lack of maintenance. It's like Michigan was paved in the 70's and nothing's been done since.
Oh, no doubt. But remember, Detroit has been declining for a lot more than 10 years. I was mainly speaking about the state in general. I spend as little time in and around Detroit as possible. 
And they are trying. Try going anywhere via freeway in the summer in this state. Nothing but orange barrels as far as the eye can see.......
Keith Tanner said:I dunno. They were pretty bad before 2008 as well.
In 1997 we drove out to Neon97 (fan-organized Neon get together in Belvedere IL) and on the way back we were going to visit Niagara, so we headed east through Michigan. Every road we drove on was awful, and it was in summertime, so they had had months to do even the smallest amount of patching.
Sorry Tom, gotta disagree with you on this one. When I moved here in 94 the roads were already beyond awful. It's sad when you move to Mexico and find the rural roads there are better than even wealthy areas in Michigan. The roads hee have been chronically underfunded with much of the money going to kick backs and bribes that the roads have suffered for decades. I'm not saying that's the case these days, but it's what helped us get in this situation over the decades.
Congrats?
Adrian_Thompson said:Sorry Tom, gotta disagree with you on this one. When I moved here in 94 the roads were already beyond awful. It's sad when you move to Mexico and find the rural roads there are better than even wealthy areas in Michigan. The roads hee have been chronically underfunded with much of the money going to kick backs and bribes that the roads have suffered for decades. I'm not saying that's the case these days, but it's what helped us get in this situation over the decades.
I don't disagree. All I'm saying is that it's gotten worse in the last 15 years. Or maybe I've gotten older and I notice it more now...... 
In reply to Duke :
That's less than a mile from the potential rallysprint, FYI.
Michigan DOT relies on potholes to be filled by the rust of decaying vehicles. It doesn't work.
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