How Many Twin Cities Roads Are In Bad Shape

TWIN CITIES, MN — A new report from a national transportation research group finds that one-third of the nation’s major urban roadways are in poor condition, and that includes roads in Minnesota.

The non-profit group TRIP examined the state of major roads in the country, including the pavement conditions. TRIP says it used information provided by the Federal Highway Administration to categorize roads and highways into poor, mediocre, fair or good condition. TRIP further calculated what share of major roads in an urban area fall into each of the four categories.

The organization defined an urban area as including the major city in the region and its neighboring or surrounding suburban areas.

For Minnesota, TRIP examined roads in the Twin Cities.

According to TRIP, 25 percent of the roads in the metro are in poor condition, 19 percent are in mediocre condition, 18 percent are in fair condition and 39 percent are in good condition.

TRIP’s report also looked at how much extra money drivers spend in a year due to driving on roads that are in bad condition. On average, TRIP says a driver spends $599 annually in extra vehicle operating costs. In the Twin Cities, TRIP says a driver spends $600 annually in extra operating costs.

The top 20 urban areas with the highest share of roads in poor conditions are:

San Francisco-Oakland, California (71 percent)
San Jose, California (64 percent)
Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, California (57 percent)
Milwaukee, Wisconsin (54 percent)
Honolulu, Hawaii (54 percent)
Akron, Ohio (49 percent)
Cleveland, Ohio (49 percent)
New York-Newark, New York-New Jersey-Connecticut (46 percent)
Providence, Rhode Island-Massachusetts (46 percent)
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania-New Jersey-Delaware-Maryland (43 percent)
Seattle, Washington (41 percent)
Sacramento, California (41 percent)
Riverside-San Bernardino, California (40 percent)
Memphis, Tennessee-Mississippi-Arkansas (40 percent)
Bridgeport-Stamford, Connecticut-New York (40 percent)
Fresno, California (40 percent)
Denver-Aurora, Colorado (40 percent)
Baton Rouge, Louisiana (38 percent)
Colorado Springs, Colorado (37 percent)
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma (37 percent)

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