Researchers at CoPilot, a car shopping app, analyzed road quality statistics from the Federal Highway Administration (FHA). Using the FHA’s International Roughness Index (IRI) data, they ranked each urban area based on the percentage of road-miles categorized as poor.
CoPilot found that, according to the FHA data, 26% of major urban roads in the U.S. are in poor condition – but that statistic jumps significantly in California, where almost half of major urban roads (46.2%) are in poor condition. In CoPilot’s ranking of 15 urban regions with the worst roads, California took the top three slots.
The top three large urban areas with the worst roads are:
1. San Francisco–Oakland
- Percentage of all major roads in poor condition: 71.2%.
- Interstates & freeways in poor condition: 15.7%.
- Arterials in poor condition: 70.8%.
- Minor arterials in poor condition: 88.2%.
2. San Jose, Calif.
- Percentage of all major roads in poor condition: 63.3%.
- Interstates & freeways in poor condition: 9.8%.
- Arterials in poor condition: 53.9%.
- Minor arterials in poor condition: 88.9%.
3. Los Angeles–Long Beach–Anaheim, Calif.
- Percentage of all major roads in poor condition: 62.8%.
- Interstates & freeways in poor condition: 11.6%.
- Arterials in poor condition: 68.6%.
- Minor arterials in poor condition: 68.9%.