Just How Bad Are Michigan’s Interstate Highways and Bridges?

If you're headed for a 4th of July road trip, be prepared: Conditions on Michigan's roads and bridges are among the most deteriorated in the United States.

A new report by TRIP, a Washington, DC-based national transportation organization, says that 6 percent of the pavement on Michigan’s Interstate system is in poor condition, 11 percent is in mediocre condition and 18 percent is in mediocre to poor condition.

By that measure, Michigan has the ninth-worst Interstate road system in the country. Interstate ridges are in the sixth-worst condition in the nation, with 7 percent of them structurally deficient and 18 percent structurally obsolete.

The report, The Interstate Highway System Turns 60: Challenges to Its Ability to Continue to Save Lives, Time and Money, was issued as the U.S. marks the 60th anniversary of the interstate highway system this week.

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The organization says the country’s overwhelmed interstates face increasing congestion, unprecedented levels of travel — particularly by large trucks — and not enough money to make needed repairs and improvements.

TRIP officials said the design of the Interstate makes it more than twice as safe to travel on as all other roadways.

In Michigan, the fatality rate on non-Interstate was more than twice as high as the Interstate fatality rate — 1.07 per 100 million vehicles versus .043 per 100 million vehicles, respectively.

TRIP estimates the Interstate system saved 5,359 lives nationwide in 2014 and 139 lives in Michigan. This estimate is based on the number of additional fatalities that would have occurred had Interstate traffic been carried by other major roadways, which often lack the safety features common to Interstate routes.

And people are increasingly out on the highways, according to the report.

Nationally, the average annual amount of travel per Interstate lane mile increased by 11 percent from 2000 to 2014, according to the report. The increase was 1 percent.

Interstates carry one-quarter of all the nation’s traffic, and truck traffic on Interstates is growing at twice the rate of other vehicles.

But as usage is growing, funding to maintain the Interstate is falling far behind.

TRIP reports that the current backlog of needed improvements to the Interstate Highway System, as estimated by the U.S. Department of Transportation, is $189 billion. But the nation’s current transportation investment is less than two-thirds (61 percent) of the amount needed to keep Interstates in good condition and make the improvements necessary to meet the nation’s growing need for personal and commercial mobility.

The report writers predict that by 2020 the annual shortfall into the nation’s Highway Trust Fund will be $16 billion annually.

Written by: Patch’s Lanning Taliaferro with additional reporting by Beth Dalbey
Image credit: Doug Kerr via Flickr / Creative Commons