The Best Roads in the Country are in New Hampshire; Massachusetts Has Some of the Worst – New Study
I drove through an unmarked pothole which was the width of the entire road today while pulling into work. I’m actually not too sure if my front tires are completely…
I drove through an unmarked pothole which was the width of the entire road today while pulling into work. I'm actually not too sure if my front tires are completely flat as I type this, that'll be an adventure for after work. Sometimes I feel like driving around certain parts of Massachusetts is like playing dodgeball and my suspension is pretty much always the loser.
Money Geek looked at the roadways in all 50 states and ranked them from Best to Worst. They did this by comparing each state's road roughness index, which I admittedly have never heard of. They define it as follows: "The road roughness index is the weighted average value of the observed measurements of the international roughness index (IRI) for the state. The Federal Highway Administration indicates that an IRI measure of less than 95 indicates a road in good condition, between 95 and 170 is acceptable, and greater than 170 is poor condition."
So let's run them down. We'll start at #1 (the best roads in the country) and work our way to the bottom - where Massachusetts is lurking somewhere. And congratulations to our neighbor New Hampshire for having such smooth-as-a-baby's-bottom roads, taking that #1 spot!!
Hey and while we're talking about monster potholes, neither Massachusetts nor Rhode Island scored very well in the pothole department either - MORE ON THAT HERE.
BEST ROADS IN AMERICA - #1 (THE BEST!)
NEW HAMPSHIRE
ROAD ROUGHNESS INDEX: 71.9
BEST ROADS IN AMERICA - #4
FLORIDA
ROAD ROUGHNESS INDEX: 78.6
BEST ROADS IN AMERICA - #8
NEVADA
ROAD ROUGHNESS INDEX: 87.9
BEST ROADS IN AMERICA - #12
MAINE
ROAD ROUGHNESS INDEX: 90.1
BEST ROADS IN AMERICA - #14
VERMONT
ROAD ROUGHNESS INDEX: 91.2
BEST ROADS IN AMERICA - #19
DELAWARE
ROAD ROUGHNESS INDEX: 99.5
BEST ROADS IN AMERICA - #24
CONNECTICUT
ROAD ROUGHNESS INDEX: 103.0
BEST ROADS IN AMERICA - #30
MARYLAND
ROAD ROUGHNESS INDEX: 108.2
BEST ROADS IN AMERICA - #36
TEXAS
ROAD ROUGHNESS INDEX: 118.3
BEST ROADS IN AMERICA - #38
PENNSYLVANIA
ROAD ROUGHNESS INDEX: 119.9
BEST ROADS IN AMERICA - #41
NEW JERSEY
ROAD ROUGHNESS INDEX: 123.4
BEST ROADS IN AMERICA - #44
M A S S A C H U S E T T S
ROAD ROUGHNESS INDEX: 131.0
BEST ROADS IN AMERICA - #45
HAWAII
ROAD ROUGHNESS INDEX: 134.1
BEST ROADS IN AMERICA - #46
NEW YORK
ROAD ROUGHNESS INDEX: 136.6
BEST ROADS IN AMERICA - #49
RHODE ISLAND
ROAD ROUGHNESS INDEX: 149.0
BEST ROADS IN AMERICA - #50 (THE WORST!)
CALIFORNIA
ROAD ROUGHNESS INDEX: 160.3
