See How Many Of Illinois' Urban Roads Are In Bad Shape

ILLINOIS — 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 Illinois.

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.

In Illinois, TRIP examined roads in the Round Lake Beach-McHenry-Grayslake and Rockford urban areas. According to TRIP, 44 percent of the roads in the Round Lake Beach-McHenry-Grayslake are in poor condition, 13 percent are in mediocre condition, 13 percent are in fair condition and 30 percent are in good condition. The Round Lake Beach-McHenry-Grayslake urban area fares worse than many of the 20 urban areas in TRIP’s report listed as having the highest percentage of roads in poor conditions. The top 20 urban areas with the worst roads range from having a 37 percent share of roads in poor condition to having 71 percent of roads in poor condition.

The Rockford region performed a bit better than the country’s urban areas with the worst roads. In that area, 32 percent of the roads are in poor condition, 29 percent are in mediocre condition, 15 percent are in fair condition and 25 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 Round Lake Beach-McHenry-Grayslake urban area, TRIP says a driver spends $716 annually in extra operating costs, lower than the national average. In the Rockford urban area, a driver spends $639 every year in extra operating costs, which is higher than the national average TRIP calculated.

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

1. San Francisco-Oakland, California (71 percent)
2. San Jose, California (64 percent)
3. Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, California (57 percent)
4. Milwaukee, Wisconsin (54 percent)
5. Honolulu, Hawaii (54 percent)
6. Akron, Ohio (49 percent)
7. Cleveland, Ohio (49 percent)
8. New York-Newark, New York-New Jersey-Connecticut (46 percent)
9. Providence, Rhode Island-Massachusetts (46 percent)
10. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania-New Jersey-Delaware-Maryland (43 percent)
11. Seattle, Washington (41 percent)
12. Sacramento, California (41 percent)
13. Riverside-San Bernardino, California (40 percent)
14. Memphis, Tennessee-Mississippi-Arkansas (40 percent)
15. Bridgeport-Stamford, Connecticut-New York (40 percent)
16. Fresno, California (40 percent)
17. Denver-Aurora, Colorado (40 percent)
18. Baton Rouge, Louisiana (38 percent)
19. Colorado Springs, Colorado (37 percent)
20. Oklahoma City, Oklahoma (37 percent)

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