Report shows NJ roads among worst in nation

Remember the great gas tax hike under the Christie administration? New Jersey went from having one of the lowest gas tax rates in the nation to among the highest. The tradeoff was supposed to be better roads and constant funding of needed highway infrastructure.

So then why are we seeing a study on state rankings for bad roads where New Jersey is among the worst in the country?

The report by Swiftdrain used data from the Federal Highway Administration, U.S. Census Bureau, and the Tax Policy Center to rank states. New Jersey ranked 12th worst in the nation for road conditions. We have nearly 4,000 miles of roads in poor condition, accounting for 17.5% of all our roads.

We rank second in the nation for most potholes per capita. Anyone who has driven Route 1, the Pulaski Skyway, or stretches of the Turnpike during freeze-thaw season will not be at all surprised to see this.

SEE ALSO: Two of the nation's deadliest roads are in NJ 

A few years ago, the Annual Highway Report showed a dysfunctional system for how New Jersey maintains its roads. We spend over $1 million per mile of state-controlled highways, which puts us by far the highest in the United States. That was found to be $929,331 more per mile than California and $762,700 more than New York (yet New York’s roads are in better condition than ours).

SEE ALSO: A unique NJ road design that terrifies most other drivers 

Bottom line is we’re spending the most per mile on our roads, yet have the 12th worst roads in America. Can we all agree it’s time to take a good, hard look at that?

Opinions expressed in the post above are those of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Jeff Deminski only.

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