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The Lone Star State may have more miles of freeway than any other state, but that doesn’t mean they’re in good shape. In fact, a new study suggests that they are actually pretty lousy.
When road conditions were compared in all 50 states, Texas ranked 17th in the United States, according to research by consumer news website Consumer Affairs.
To compose its ranking, Consumer Affairs weighed the amount each state spends per mile of road, the number of car accident deaths per road, a survey sent to motorists in each state, and the percentage of roads in good, fair and bad condition.
Only 22% of the roads in Texas are rated in good condition by the Federal Highway Administration, while 11% are in poor condition. The state’s $ 45,000 per mile spending isn’t at the bottom of the survey, but it is way behind states like Maryland ($ 106,000 per mile) and Massachusetts ($ 104,000 per mile).
The results appear to support a May 2019 report by the bipartisan infrastructure giant Repair Priorities that found Texas highways to be in a state of deterioration. In this study, the state was accused of spending too much money on new roads and not enough on maintaining existing roads.
According to repair priorities, Texas spent an average of $ 7 billion in annual highway spending between 2009 and 2014. About half went to the expansion of the motorway rather than to maintenance.
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