The 5 States with the Most Dangerous Roads in the U.S.
Usually when you read an article about the “Most Dangerous Roads,” you are typically reading about roads that are very steep, have a lot of twists and turns, maybe have a high speed limit and a lot of snow, etc. But what about the actual conditions of the roads? If some roads are very “worn,” wouldn’t that also make them pretty dangerous?
When you take into consideration things like condition, poor bridges, and congestion, those factors could definitely deem a road dangerous. Add on top of that fatalities, and you are definitely onto something.
So, with those factors in mind, let’s take a look at the 5 states in the United States with the most dangerous roads:
1. Louisiana
Louisiana has been found to have the worst roads in the entire country. With Louisiana facing so many hurricanes, etc their roads have definitely been a part of the collateral damage. In 2009, Louisiana had the second highest number of road fatalities (after Montana). They were also found to have very poor roads and bridges.
With their poor roads, they do have some budget set aside for them to be able to make repairs. They have the 8th highest amount of funds (out of the 50 states) given to them by the Federal Highway Fund to make repairs on their state’s roads. So with those funds, hopefully we will be able to see Louisiana’s road conditions and safety increase.
2. North Carolina
North Carolina is second on the list of states with the most dangerous roads. For bad bridges and congestion, they are in the top 10 worst in the country. For all of the other bad road condition factors, they place in the top 20 in the country. So, it’s not that they have any one really bad condition or factor. It’s that, overall, all of their conditions add up to make their roads considered one of the most dangerous.
North Carolina definitely doesn’t have the same funds allocated to it as Louisiana. They rank 44 out of the 50 states as to the amount allocated to them by the Federal Highway Fund. There still is hope for North Carolina, though. They are working on a new program to install solar panels to help power its airport. With the amount of money their Department of Transportation will save on the airport costs from these solar panels, hopefully they will able to put some of that money towards road repairs.
3. Oklahoma
Oklahoma is third on the list for most dangerous roads in the United States. They have the third worst conditions in the entire country, and their bridges are ranked the 13th worst. Their road fatalities are also high. The state has released some reports on road safety, and they are hoping to work to improve all of these conditions.
4. West Virginia
Next up we have West Virginia. West Virginia has very high road fatality rates, even though they have low levels of traffic congestion. This could be due to the fact that they have very poor road and bridge conditions. Their Department of Transportation isn’t reportedly making many big moves to improve road and bridge conditions, but they have worked to increase driver knowledge on how to properly navigate some of their more unique road conditions (roundabouts, etc).
5. Arkansas
The 5th most dangerous state (when it comes to roads) in the U.S. is Arkansas. They have the 5th highest amount of road fatalities, and they rank 10th for poor road conditions. They are ranked 11th in the nation for the amount of funds allocated to them from the Federal Highway Fund. So hopefully they, like a couple others on this list, will be able to use those funds to increase conditions, decrease fatalities, etc.
Nicole is a guest writer for cheapinsurance.com. She covers cheap car insurance.