New Report Gives High Marks to Missouri’s Urban Highways
Recently, TRIP, a national transportation research group, released a report on the state of urban roadways in cities across the country. Specifically, the group looked at the overall conditions of urban roads (measured in terms of smoothness) and calculated the additional costs for the average driver created by driving on roads in need of repair.
Those who have followed our blogs on this topic will be unsurprised to learn that Missouri’s largest cities, St. Louis and Kansas City, rank well on these measures. In terms of overall smoothness, Kansas City and St. Louis rank 8th and 11th, respectively, among the nation’s 75 largest metro areas:
Rank | Urban Area | State | Poor | Mediocre | Fair | Good | Road Condition Index |
1 | Nashville-Davidson | TN | 9% | 11% | 15% | 65% | 1.16 |
2 | Minneapolis–St. Paul | MN | 6% | 19% | 16% | 59% | 1.03 |
3 | Raleigh | NC | 7% | 18% | 26% | 49% | 0.92 |
4 | Rochester | NY | 11% | 18% | 31% | 40% | 0.71 |
5 | Orlando | FL | 8% | 33% | 2% | 57% | 0.67 |
6 | Phoenix | AZ | 13% | 31% | 2% | 54% | 0.53 |
7 | Indianapolis | IN | 17% | 21% | 20% | 42% | 0.49 |
8 | Kansas City | MO | 13% | 27% | 21% | 38% | 0.44 |
9 | Atlanta | GA | 18% | 23% | 18% | 41% | 0.41 |
10 | Bakersfield | CA | 7% | 34% | 29% | 30% | 0.41 |
11 | St. Louis | MO | 16% | 29% | 16% | 39% | 0.33 |
12 | Louisville | KY | 18% | 26% | 20% | 37% | 0.32 |
13 | Cincinnati | OH | 20% | 23% | 21% | 36% | 0.30 |
14 | Buffalo | NY | 14% | 33% | 16% | 37% | 0.29 |
… | |||||||
70 | Detroit | MI | 56% | 28% | 2% | 14% | -1.10 |
71 | San Diego | CA | 51% | 34% | 5% | 10% | -1.11 |
72 | Riverside–San Bernardino | CA | 46% | 41% | 7% | 6% | -1.14 |
73 | Concord | CA | 62% | 30% | 2% | 5% | -1.42 |
74 | Los Angeles | CA | 73% | 21% | 3% | 4% | -1.56 |
75 | San Francisco-Oakland | CA | 74% | 20% | 4% | 2% | -1.60 |
The relative smoothness of Missouri’s urban highways means lower costs for drivers. According to TRIP, the average driver in St. Louis and Kansas City paid $398 and $438, respectively, in annual additional vehicle operating costs from bad roads. That is far less than the U.S. large metro median ($640 per vehicle). San Francisco’s road conditions cost drivers the most, at an average $1,044 per year.
The latest TRIP report underscores the fact that Missouri’s major roads are in comparatively good condition, at least in urban areas. However, to maintain and improve road quality, Missouri’s highways need regular maintenance and an adequate user-funding base to back that maintenance, which they currently do not have.
