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Repair and maintenance

The never-ending pleas for ever larger amounts of federal transportation spending always lean on the same rhetoric of “fixing our crumbling roads and bridges," yet massive infusions of spending to date have failed to result in better roads and bridges. Why? One reason is because states are not required to maintain what they’ve built before building expensive new infrastructure.

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Pavement condition index by state

Hover over any state for some brief facts on repair. Click on any state to see that state’s full data page, or use the dropdown selector.

If we’re not going to maintain what we have, why bother building anything new?

The Federal Highway Administration tracks the nation’s transportation system’s conditions and performance with data submitted by state DOTs. Unfortunately, much of that data is often hard to decipher, incomplete, or presented in opaque forms. This hub pulls together key pieces of national data on repair, spending, and priorities.

States are also required by Congress to track and set targets for the state of repair on their respective portions of the National Highway System (a relatively small portion of the roads in any state.) The roughly 47,000-mile Interstate System is included in the NHS’s 230,000 miles, but the NHS also includes tens of thousands of other state-owned roads, from two-lane rural highways up to most multi-lane urban and suburban arterials.

When it comes to these targets, states frequently set performance targets that are far worse than existing conditions, allowing them to claim victory even while conditions worsen. Or they simply set targets in line with however they seem to be performing. View the repair data below.

Why we need to Fix it First

National spending on road expansion vs. repair

How much do states collectively spend on road maintenance vs. expansion each year? This table summarizes total capital spending for each year on road repair vs. road expansion, as reported to FHWA by category in the Highway Statistics Series. (Table SF-12A)

Click on any item in the legend to show or hide that column or line. To zoom in on an area, click and drag your cursor over that area. To download the chart, view the underlying data, or see it in full-screen mode, click the menu icon in the top right.

Click on any item in the legend to show or hide that column or line. To zoom in on an area, click and drag your cursor over that area. To download the chart, view the underlying data, or see it in full-screen mode, click the menu icon in the top right.

Click on any item in the legend to show or hide that column or line. To zoom in on an area, click and drag your cursor over that area. To download the chart, view the underlying data, or see it in full-screen mode, click the menu icon in the top right.

Use the “State” filter above to add any state’s data to this graph.

Click on any item in the legend to show or hide that trend line. To zoom in on an area, click and drag your cursor over that area. To download this chart or to see it in full-screen mode, click the menu icon in the top right.

Note: Data required for compilation of national road conditions in 2021 (FHWA Highway Stats Series Table HM-47) are currently unavailable

Safety

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Spending and investment

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State of the System home

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This tool is intended to be iterative, with new topical areas, new and updated data sets, and new functionality added over time. We want your feedback on what you find useful, what may be confusing, and any other ideas you may have. Please share with us!
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Our three principles

Despite $1.5 trillion of federal investment since 1991, traffic, emissions, and pedestrian deaths keep rising. It’s time to focus on what truly matters: a transportation system that safely and efficiently serves everyday people.

More about our principles