Minnesota Now Has Some of Best Roads in the U.S.

According to a new study, if you're looking for some smooth, well-maintained roads, only one state's roads are better than ours here in Minnesota.

Living here in the Land of 10,000 Lakes, we're used to being ranked near the top of several national lists, right? Our health care, education, and general quality of life are all routinely top-ranked here in the North Star State. Heck, even some of our classic Minnesota food has been named the Best in America.

And now comes word that our roads are some of the best in the country. Speaking of roads and highways, we have a lot of them here in the Bold North. In fact, Minnesota has some of the most roads of any state in the country. According to the Minnesota Legislature website, there are about 135,000 miles of roads and highways that traverse the Gopher State.

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And now, according to a survey from the Consumer Affairs list of the States With The Best Roads in America, Minnesota has just been ranked as the second-best state in the country! I know that sounds a little tough to believe, especially if you've driven on the really rough parts of some Minnesota highways, like maybe Interstate 494 in Maplewood, am I right?

So how did they come up with these rankings? Consumer Affairs said they looked at how each state ranked in four categories, including:

• Percentage of roads in poor, fair, and good condition
• Motor crash fatalities on roads per mile
• Amount spent per mile of road
• Vehicle miles traveled (VMT)

Their results showed that the states with the best roads frequently perform routine maintenance on their streets and have significant infrastructure budgets, the study said. And Minnesota came in rated second-best in the country when looking at those categories, as Consumer Affairs noted:

 According to recent data from the Tax Policy Center, Minnesota spends $952 per capita on its highways (the U.S. average is $616) per year. Its International Roughness Index for urban roads is the lowest in the country, coming in at just under 5%.

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Only New Hampshire had better roads than we do in Minnesota, having ranked first in the survey. Here are the Top 10 States With The Best Roads:

1. New Hampshire
2. Minnesota
3. Vermont
4. Alabama
5. Idaho
6. Kansas
7. Florida
8. Georgia
9. Nevada
10. Indiana

Meanwhile, two of our neighboring states were among those at the bottom of the list. Here are the Top 10 States with The Worst Roads:

1. Hawaii
2. Rhode Island
3. Louisiana
4. California
5. Wisconsin
6. Mississippi
7. Arkansas
8. Colorado
9. South Carolina
10. Iowa

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