Submitted by Aiken Jacobsen on
California spends approximatley five times more per mile on road maintenance and upgrades for the 18,260 miles worth of roads -- the 11th largest higway system in all 50 states. To get to that statistic, California increased its spending by 24 percent since 2008, now spending approximately $679,000 per mile.
With that level of funding spent on maintenance and improvements, one might think that the California highway system is one of the best. That thought could not be more wrong. In fact, in the annual report released by the Reason Foundation there were only three state highway systems that ranked lower than The Golden State.
Some residents say that although they see a lot of construction workers on the highway repaving the roads, he thinks that maybe the money is not being effectively spent. "Interstate 580 is like driving in a Third World nation," he said. "It needs fixing bad."
Two factors that sunk California's system down to the 47th slot on the list were urban interstate pavement condition and congestion. The state ranked worst of all in highway congestion and second to last in the pavement condition.
While the description made by the California driver above may not be quite as dire as the real situation, poor road conditions can contribute to accidents. In some cases, all it takes is a single pothole to cause a chain reaction car accident that leaves many injured.
In other cases, it isn't the roads at all but another driver's negligence. Either way, victims of these types of accident may be eligible for compensation.
Source: Mercury News, "California highways among worst in the nation," Gary Richards, July 1, 2013
