The report also concludes it is far more expensive to rehabilitate a road once it has deteriorated than it costs to keep it in good condition. ![]() “With every dollar spent on new construction, states add to a road system they are already failing to adequately maintain,” according to the report. Louisiana, according to the report, spent 62 percent of its roads budget on expansion and new construction, compared to 55 percent nationally. ![]() Other factors include a high cost to build roads in parts of Louisiana, where water and soil construction make it difficult, and a policy of investing heavily in new construction versus maintenance.Ī 2014 report, “Repair Priorities: Transportation Spending Strategies to Save Taxpayer Dollars and Improve Roads,” by Smart Growth America and Taxpayers for Common Sense, criticizes states across the country for “spending more money building new roads than maintaining the ones they have - despite the fact that roads are crumbling, financial liabilities are mounting and conditions are not improving for America’s drivers.”įrom 2009-11, according to the report, states spent $4 billion more building new roads that represented 1 percent of state-owned systems than they did maintaining the other 99 percent of the roads they own. That has actually improved from a few years ago, when it was $14 billion. The state has a backlog of $12 billion in transportation needs. It also ranked 44th in fatality rate, which many rankings consider to have a strong connection with road conditions. In the same report, Louisiana ranked 39th in deficient or obsolete bridges (27.8 percent, compared to 21.5 percent nationally). ![]() But by any measure, road and bridge conditions in Louisiana rank poorly, putting them on the legislature’s radar once again this session.Ī 2013 report from the Reason Foundation ranked Louisiana 41st in the country in rural interstate pavement condition (4.07 percent of mileage in poor condition, more than double the national average), 44th in rural arterial pavement condition (3.06 percent in poor condition, more than three times the national average) and 48th in urban interstate pavement condition (15.31 percent, more than three times the national average). Crumbling and congested roads cost the average Louisiana driver hundreds of dollars a year, and there are no easy answers on how to fix them.Ĭalling any state’s roads “the worst” definitively is difficult, since different ranking bodies use different methodologies.
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