Democracy Dies in Darkness
Transportation

Infrastructure plan calls for fixing the nation’s existing roads. Some states are still focused on expansion.

Data analysis by The Washington Post shows a fifth of the nation’s major roads were rated in poor condition in 2019

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May 23, 2021 at 7:11 p.m. EDT
Traffic on Interstate 5 leading north out of Seattle. Washington state officials say their experience illustrates the risks of pumping money into expanding roads and skimping on rehabilitation work. (Stuart Isett for The Washington Post)

For all the ambition of President Biden’s infrastructure proposal — massive spending boosts on trains and buses and a push to get Americans into electric cars — its priority for the nation’s road network is more basic: Fix them.

The Federal Highway Administration estimates a $435 billion backlog of rehabilitation needs, while an analysis of agency data by The Washington Post shows a fifth of the nation’s major roads, stretching almost 164,000 miles, were rated in poor condition in 2019. That figure has stayed mostly unchanged for a decade.