Utah roads rated fifth best in the nation by new report
May 12, 2021, 2:19 PM
FILE: Weekend travelers join the traffic on I-15 near Point of the Mountain near Draper Thursday, Aug. 30, 2018. Photo: Steve Griffin, Deseret News
SALT LAKE CITY — Where can you find some of the best roads in America? Right here in Utah.
Utah home to some of the best roads in the land
A new study from Zutobi set out to find the states with the best and worst roads across the nation. The research finds the Beehive state comes well within the “Top Ten” at fifth in the US, following Iowa, Maryland, Massachusetts and Minnesota as the top spot for best roads.
Utah is also the most western state to make the top ten ranking for best roads.
“To determine which states had the worst roads, we used data from the United States Bureau of Transportation Statistics website,” Zutobi reported. “This data showed us the total miles of roads in each state, and how much of it was deemed acceptable according to the International Roughness Index.”
Researchers compared the data from 2020 to 2015 to see how it had changed over time. They also took other factors into consideration, such as highway deaths.
The bottom of the heap
At the opposite end of the findings, Oklahoma, Mississippi and South Carolina are states found to have the worst roads in the country.
Poorly maintained roads can cause damage to vehicles, increase travel time when behind the wheel and reduce fuel efficiency, Zutobi noted in its report.
So with the summer travel season almost here, Utah residents can take to the roads with confidence. We boast some of the best in the country.
