No, this isn’t a scene from a low-budget horror film.
The American Society of Civil Engineers, which represents those engineers that are always making concrete canoes during their time at university, have released this year’s edition of the organization’s “Report Card for America’s Infrastructure,” which naturally calls for more construction projects of the sort that would employ a civil engineer or two. Regardless, ASCE has pulled together an impressive amount of data into an impressively slick website we used to quickly survey the condition of roads in the midwest, which go from bad to worse. As anyone who has lived in the south can attest, not having annual freezing and thawing cycles does wonders for the roads. But even at this frosty latitude, there are peaches (Indiana); and there are prunes (Illinois).
(1) Indiana
95,680 miles of public roads
17% in mediocre or poor condition
(2) Michigan
121,650 miles of public roads
38% in mediocre or poor condition
(3) Iowa
114,348 miles of public roads
46% in mediocre or poor condition
(4) Minnesota
138,239 miles of public roads
52% in mediocre or poor condition
(5) Wisconsin
114,843 miles of public roads
71% in mediocre or poor condition
(6) Illinois
139,577 miles of public roads
73% in mediocre or poor condition
For more on why Milwaukee’s streets are more or less abysmal, check out our 2010 feature “Asphalt Jungle.”
