cspwal Posted November 3, 2016 Share Posted November 3, 2016 Aren't in Houston? Are we really so down on our luck that we can't even break the top 25 of bad roads? What happened to the glory days of potholes connected by gravel in Montrose? Potholes on the highways - wasn't that invented here? http://www.citylab.com/commute/2016/11/san-francisco-oakland-tie-for-the-worst-roads-in-the-us/506354/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheAtlanticCities+(CityLab) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mollusk Posted November 3, 2016 Share Posted November 3, 2016 It's all about the metrics. Drill down a bit to get to Citylab's source, and right above the chart it says: "The following chart shows the 25 urban regions* with a population of 500,000 or greater with the highest share of major roads and highways with pavements that are in poor condition and provide a rough ride." My personal experience in the Bay Area is that yes, indeedy, their (state maintained) freeways exhibit way more pavement suckitude than ours. OTOH, their regular (locally maintained) surface streets are generally in much better shape than ours. It's likely that one reason California is so well represented in that chart is because the state funds to maintain those major roads and highways just weren't there - an effect of years and years of all sorts of revenue caps put in place by people who replaced taxes with reverent devotion to the Magical Money Fairy. Those caps were recently modified and/or done away with, and voilà, major stretches of highway are suddenly getting repaved for the first time in eons. (OT, and their economy is growing faster than the rest of the country's) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cspwal Posted November 3, 2016 Author Share Posted November 3, 2016 Ah that explains a lot. For some reason I glossed over the actual description of what they were measuring Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mollusk Posted November 3, 2016 Share Posted November 3, 2016 In fairness, it was buried a bit, in the source for a source... the only reason for my digging was a combination of my agreement that it just sounded weird, mild obsessive traits, being away from work and home, and getting a little stir crazy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
samagon Posted November 8, 2016 Share Posted November 8, 2016 to be honest, even considering the qualifications of the list, I'm shocked California is even in the top 10. I would assume areas with lots of snow/ice would be top 3. so much of the road budget goes into spreading salt/sand/gravel, and these very things corrode the road surface that much faster. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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