A nationwide study released Thursday, May 26, showed that road conditions in urban areas are getting worse, and trucks are the ones taking the blame.

The study, which was released by The Road Information Program, also known as TRIP, and based on 2003 data by the Federal Highway Administration, said 26 percent of roads in major metropolitan areas are in poor condition, up from 22 percent just five years earlier, USA Today reported.

The study concluded that trucks are the main cause of highway deterioration. Frank Moretti, TRIP research director, told USA Today that trucks “put significantly more wear on roads.”

“You’ve got to build and maintain roads that can handle these vehicles.” Moretti said.

John Siebert, project leader for the OOIDA Foundation, said truckers are already paying extra for any damage they might be causing.

“For the most part, the interstate highways were built to specs, but they just didn’t foresee 53-foot trailers at 80,000 pounds running on them back then,” Siebert said. “But trucks already pay road use taxes every year to compensate for the added wear they cause beyond what the four-wheelers do.”

Kansas City is listed as having the worst roads with 71 percent of its highways in poor condition. San Jose, St. Louis, Los Angeles and Antioch, CA, round out the top-five problem areas.

“We’ve known for a while that our roads are in pretty rough shape,” Jeff Briggs, spokesman for the Missouri Department of Transportation, told USA Today.

Meanwhile, Atlanta was named as having the best urban roadways, with 84 percent of its roads in good condition.

TRIP is a non-profit research group, composed of insurance companies, equipment manufacturers, distributors, unions and highway construction investors, according to the group’s Web site.

“All levels of government share responsibility for improving these roads,” Will Wilkins, executive director for TRIP, told The Kansas City Star.

Siebert said road conditions might not be as bad if all of the road use tax money went toward roads, rather than other state projects.

“One stand OOIDA has repeatedly taken is that funding non-road construction out of the highway trust fund is unconscionable,” Siebert said. “Amtrak, bicycle trails and horse paths are not proper expenditures of road use tax money, but you just can’t tell that to legislators that want fun, frilly stuff for their states.”

– By Aaron Ladage, Land Line staff
aaron_ladage@landlinemag.com