Bad Roads Mean Higher Car Repair Costs–a Comparison by State

The state of U.S. infrastructure has been in the news lately, but just how much does that infrastructure affect the amount of car repairs (including auto glass repair and replacement)? Plenty, as it turns out. A state-by-state fact sheet produced by the White House gives each state a grade, estimates the amount of heavily damaged (read failing or failed) roadways and also estimates the average additional amount of car repairs needed annually because of the roadways. Most states were also given an overall grade with Mississippi “earning” the lowest grades of D-.

Texas has 19,400 miles of roads in poor condition according to the data. California placed second at 14,220 miles. While the assessments are likely to be somewhat proportional to the number of roads miles in the given state, an analysis of the data by glassBYTEs showed a few surprises. Tennessee had only 270 miles of roads in poor condition, the second lowest in the nation and just 20 miles more than Delaware. Iowa, the runaway national “winner” with more than 4,500 bridges in disrepair, had only 403 road miles cited as being in poor condition, the fifth lowest in the nation. States that, unfortunately, seem to have a high number of poor condition road miles for their size include Arkansas (6,700) and Mississippi (5,840), both of which finished in the national top ten.

The information reportedly was culled from the 2021 Report on America’s Infrastructure by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE). The ASCE concluded that, for the first time in 20 years, America’s infrastructure was out of the grade “D” range. ASCE reported that there are more than four million miles of public roadways in the U.S. and vehicle miles reached 3.2 trillion in 2019, an 18% increase since 2000. “… The growing wear-and-tear to our nation’s roads has left 43% of our public roadways in poor or mediocre condition, a number that has remained stagnant over the past several years,” stated ASCE. The majority of these roads are on urban and rural collectors and the non-interstate system and force motorists to spend nearly $130 billion annually on extra vehicle repairs and operating costs, according to ASCE findings.

States with a Grade of D or D-

Note: The following states did not receive a letter grade, although a review shows that many of them would qualify as states with worst roadways: Arkansas, Indiana, Massachusetts, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Virginia and Wyoming.

States with the Highest Number of Road Miles in Great Disrepair

States with the Highest Increased Average Repair Cost Due to Poor Roads