California’s roads, once described as the best in the nation, now are among the worst in terms of damage such as cracks, potholes and bumps per mile, according to a report by the state’s Legislative Analyst's Office.

The office, citing figures from the Federal Highway Administration, said that 26 percent of the state’s roads are rated by drivers as unacceptably rough. The national average is 8.4 percent. Only Massachusetts, at 35.9 percent, has rougher roads.

The agency said the problems were due to “inadequate investment in pavement maintenance.”

The California Department of Transportation estimates that the state has deferred $587 million in necessary pavement maintenance in recent years, including preventive maintenance, such as sealing cracks in the road, and corrective maintenance, such as repairing potholes.

California’s recent budget crisis has not helped; Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who was elected after the recall of former Gov. Gray Davis, helped balance the state’s deficit-battered budget by borrowing up to $1 billion from the state’s transportation funds.

“As the Legislature considers using transportation funds to help the general fund in the budget year, it must weigh the potential general fund benefits against the fact that any loss of transportation funding at this point will likely delay projects and postpone any related traffic congestion relief,” the analyst’s report said.