1 vote for Chicago as worst roads in the country. Especially after this crazy winter - they're all over the place. There was a whole news segment here last month on one specific one. lol

 

If there are anything worse then our Chicagoland roads, then I shall pray for you before I go to bed.

 

Start praying. Have you ever been to D.C.?.......what do you expect the infrastructure to be like when you had, for years, a mayor who smoked crack? Only recently, with new mayors, has some progress been made. Manhattan streets, in NYC, are almost as bad.

You do have one point, though.....Chicago streets really get it in the winter, though not as bad as some cities on the Lakes farther east, such as Cleveland, Buffalo, Erie, and Detroit.

 

Yes, but Hawaii's overall tax burden is crushing.

Here's one source showing you're 6th highest in the nation overall.
http://www.retirementliving.com/RLtaxburdens.html

 

I can't say that NYC has the WORST roads but I will say that it's sure up there on the list. Manhattan is bad but the outer boroughs are badder. We use to take the garbage cans from street corners and put them in the deep potholes so that drivers can save there axles from being broken or their rims from being bent. And since there was a lot of holes and not enough garbage cans, other objects laying around will do. I remember someone put the rails of a bed set in a hole before.

 

Chicago is bad but Indy is horrible also. But I Michigan was the worst place out of the places I lived.

 

No wonder I'm so poor This is kind of misleading though. Part if it is because this ranking is based on tax burden per income. We don't have high incomes here, and we have high cost of living. Since we don't really have a sales tax but a General Excise Tax, everything bought here is taxed. Food, health care, medicine, services, everything. Since the prices of those are generally higher than other states, you pay more taxed on it.

 

Do a search on Palumbo Brothers in Chicago and you will see why streets are so bad. In some cases they used half the materials they were supposed to, of course they were happy to bill the city again when "maintenance" was needed.

 

Car and Driver magazine, which drives cars all over the country, also agrees that Michigan, overall, among states (not cities), is the worst.

 

I-65 From Elizabethtown, KY - Bowling green, KY.
I-65 through Birmingham, Alabma

Probably not crazy potholes, but there are som bad ones AND the road is crumbling, causing rocks to be thrown like rain.

 

The Pennsylvania turnpike was voted worst road in America a few times by truckers. When I used to drive on it a decade ago it certainly SUCKED then along with most other roads there.

 

dunno about San Jose but remember Honolulu is surrounded by the ocean.. there's salt in the ocean. That can cause problems on the road (salt from ocean spray for example)

 

I just tried a quick search because I was curious for a list. I don't know how recent or credible this is. I found it using Google. I guess it can give you an idea though.

Here's the link: http://www.etrucker.com/apps/news/article.asp?id=29443

WORST ROADS
1. Arkansas
2. Louisiana
3. Michigan
4. Pennsylvania
5. Illinois

BEST ROADS
1. Texas
2. Florida
3. Tennessee
4. Georgia
5. Nebraska

LEAST AVAILABLE OVERNIGHT PARKING
1. New Jersey
2. California
3. Virginia
4. New York
5. Illinois

MOST AVAILABLE OVERNIGHT PARKING
1. Texas
2. Pennsylvania
3. Indiana
4. Kentucky
5. Florida

WORST REST STOPS
1. Texas
2. New Jersey
3. California
4. Ohio
5. Arkansas

BEST REST STOPS
1. Florida
2. Georgia
3. Texas
4. Indiana
5. Ohio

WORST TRUCK STOPS
1. New Jersey
2. California
3. Massachusetts
4. New York
5. Texas

BEST TRUCK STOPS
1. Texas
2. Iowa
3. Georgia
4. Ohio
5. Pennsylvania

WORST FOUR-WHEELERS
1. California
2. New York
3. Illinois
4. New Jersey
5. Florida

BEST FOUR-WHEELERS
1. Texas
2. Tennessee
3. California
4. Montana
5. Wyoming

TOUGHEST ON TRUCK INSPECTIONS
1. California
2. Ohio
3. Tennessee
4. Connecticut
5. Pennsylvania

WEAKEST ON TRUCK INSPECTIONS
1. Alabama
2. Texas
3. Oklahoma
4. Wyoming
5. Illinois

 

Excellent point. I had not considered that. Cars that are regularly kept and driven near the ocean also have corrosion problems, especially with exposed iron and steel parts.

 

Did you drive up (or down) the long, 7-mile, winding grade on Allegheny Mountain between Bedford and Somerset....the one with the long tunnel through the top of the ridge? That is perhaps the most difficult......and most scenic.........part of the Turnpike.






The Turnpike itself is not in that bad a shape, pavement-wise, compared to some of the non-toll roads that parallel it (such as I-79 and I-80), because the money collected from the Turnpike tolls helps to fund the repairs and repaving it needs every winter, when the heavy Pennsylvania snows, salt, and constant truck traffic tear it up. I drove I-79 once from Morgantown to Pittsburgh, on the way from VA to OH, to see my relatives there....that road was awful.