Crumbling and congested roads cost the average Louisiana driver hundreds of dollars a year, and there are no easy answers on how to fix them.
As The Town-Talk of Alexandria reports, calling any state’s roads “the worst” definitively is difficult, because different ranking bodies use different methodologies. But by any measure, road and bridge conditions in Louisiana rank poorly, putting them on the Legislature’s radar once again this session.
A 2013 report from the Reason Foundation ranked Louisiana 41st in the country in rural interstate pavement condition (with 4% of mileage in poor condition, more than double the national average), 44th in rural arterial pavement condition (3% in poor condition, more than three times the national average) and 48th in urban interstate pavement condition (15%, more than three times the national average).
In the same report, Louisiana ranked 39th in deficient or obsolete bridges (27.8%, compared to 21.5% nationally). It also ranked 44th in fatality rate, which many rankings consider to have a strong connection with road conditions.
“We’re suffering right now from years of neglect,” says Ken Perret, president of the Louisiana Good Roads and Transportation Association. “For many years, we’ve been underfunded for both construction and maintenance. It’s a vicious cycle. We’re falling behind every year, not because DOTD doesn’t want to do what’s right, but because we don’t have adequate resources.”
A 2010 report from The Road Information Project found that “driving on roads that are deteriorated, congested or lack some desirable safety features costs Louisiana motorists a total of $3.1 billion annually.” The problem was worst in Baton Rouge, where the average driver paid an extra $1,052 per year due to lost time and required vehicle maintenance caused by poor roads, and New Orleans at $1,254 per motorist.
“Our network is in a deplorable state,” says Kam Movassaghi, former Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development secretary. “We break windshields, we bust tires, we knock front ends out of alignment when we drive on bad roads.”
Just as concerning is the effect those roads could have on economic growth. Billions of dollars in new industrial projects are planned for the state, but many stakeholders worry they might be delayed, and some might fail to materialize at all, if the state’s transportation system doesn’t improve.
“It’s a critical situation,” Perret says. “We have all this new industry coming in, but if you can’t get workers to their jobs or get product out of the plants without congestion, someone’s bound to say, ‘wait a minute, there’s no sense in going there.’”
There is only one sure way to remedy Louisiana’s infrastructure ills, most stakeholders say—more money. Unfortunately, it’s money the state does not have.
