Michigan has worst roads in U.S., study says

Potholes

Drivers dodge potholes on Morrell Street in Jackson on Thursday, Feb. 22, 2018.J. Scott Park

Here’s something you’ve probably heard before.

Michigan’s roads are terrible. But just how terrible?

Well, according to a recent study released by Lvl5, a team of former Tesla engineers that creates HD maps for self-driving cars, Michigan has the worst roads in the United States.

To reach that conclusion, the company captured more than 15 million photographs captured by the iPhone dash cam app, “Payver.” Five million miles of U.S. roads were measured based on four distinct areas: road paint fading, pavement cracking, potholes, and surface flatness.

The company also analyzed if higher gasoline taxes or higher spending on construction impacted road quality but found no correlation for either.

Michigan finished dead last in the study behind fellow Midwest states Iowa, Indiana, Ohio, Kansas and Illinois; all states that experience low temperatures and rough winters. By comparison, tropical centers like Florida and Hawaii were found to have the best roads.

Washington, Virginia and Tennessee rounded out the top 5, according to the study. You can find the entire study, here.

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