Louisiana’s Highway Conditions Get Even Worse

Louisiana drivers know well that the roads across the whole state have always been lackluster, to say the least. Residents hopeful for a smoother ride are in for bad news from a new report.

LA Roads Are Cost Inefficient

The Reason Foundation, a libertarian think tank, has released its 28th annual report on how the roads in every state compare to the amount of funding spent to build and maintain those roads. In previous years Louisiana has struggled with this report, and this year looks not much different.

Coming in as the 46th lowest overall "Highway Performance" rank Louisiana's roads have gotten worse as some of the least cost-efficient roads in America. Louisiana's neighbor states were ranked far better than the Pelican State, Arkansas at 28th, Texas at 25th place, and Mississippi at 18th place.

Louisiana was one of the most effective when it came to building new bridges and highways as well as administrative costs.

Some of Louisiana's worst spending issues related to the roads included the costs of things like law enforcement and safety expenditures. Even worse than spending was the condition of Louisiana's roads, especially in rural areas. Rural interstates in Louisiana had the 5th worst quality in America, and two-to-four-lane rural roads were the 4th worst in the country.

Urban interstates are even worse in Louisiana, the second worst quality for urban interstates in the USA, and the 8th worst for four-to-eight-lane urban roads.

No surprise either that Louisiana's bridges have problems as well, the 6th worst when it came to bridges in need of structural support and qualifying for federal repair costs.