Originally Posted by Minok

There are two issues at play: one is the US governmental approach to road building related to the size of the country, and the other is the current economic conditions.

US Approach - the US has way more miles of paved roads than Europe due to its size and population density. That naturally generates a different tendency in paying for highway construction and maintenance. Combine that with the US political cycle and representatives constantly trying to be re-elected, means it is very hard politically to sell to the short-sighted public at large, the benefit of spending 5x as much to build the same miles of highway even though it will last 8x as long and require 75% of the maintenance (numbers made up but you get the point). The roads in Europe have a much deeper base, much thicker pavement and thus are much more stable. Also the maintenance work is much more proactive. The governments there spend much more tax money on the roads, and they collect more tax money for roads via registration and licensing fees, fuel taxes, etc.

Economic Conditions - in the current economic state of reduced tax revenue, governments at all levels have to make due with less. But government spending in the country is like a gas.. it expands to fill the container, or available revenue, because for a long time the year to year revenue was good or increasing. Then government does stupid things like dedicating a lot of the tax revenue to programs that are not core government functions (but worthwhile for a society).. however when there is a shortfall of funds, they don't cut those programs. Government tries to keep people employed (voters) and reduce spending on other things more removed from voters such as infrastructure spending.

Originally Posted by Holli82

Everything is good here in southern Nevada.

Originally Posted by sbpsu354

I spent a summer in Dearborn, MI working for Ford, and the roads around Detroit no longer qualify as roads. They're just a loose association of asphalt chunks.

Originally Posted by Fahrer

You have made some very good points. I would like to add that much of Europe's weather comes from ocean air which is milder than the continental air we have in the middle or eastern parts of the US. Roads in the south and on the west coast tend to be in better shape without the severe freeze/thaw cycles. In addition, Europeans have a greater appreciation for good infrastructures including roads, railways, electricity, etc. This all contributes to a higher quality of life. I lived in Germany for 3.5 years. There was once a power failure in an area that lasted for about 10 seconds. It made national news. Can you imagine that level of reliability here? They pay higher taxes but their countries are not falling apart like the US.

By the way there are some good secondary roads to drive your car on in NJ. One of my favorites is 523.

Originally Posted by MUSSBERGER

Its the typical Democrat/Union mentality. Build the roads so they fail prematurely and need constant maintenance. Its even worse right now in Jersey because they have spent us into the poor house and they are putting off repairs so the governor can make his case for his 800%(not a typo) toll increase.

Originally Posted by axhoaxho

Here is San Francisco Bay Area, many roads are getting poor and lacked of maintenance too. Even when they repair the roads they just patch it, and sometimes make it worse (left & right tires on different patches in the same lane). In the cities, they sometimes just putting some steel plates on the roads to cover the bad sections instead of repairing it.

I found that instead of enjoying my car on the road, I was busy dodging the potholes instead.

With best regards,