Rhode Island has the Worst Roads in America according to New Study

Have you hit a pothole that made you say, "well car, it's been a good run"? I hit those almost every... single... day. Dodging potholes feels like a fulltime job in New England and a new study has found the epicenter of monstrous potholes: Rhode Island.

Rhode Island has the worst roads in America. For that to be said about such a tiny state means locals must feel like they're riding a bucking bronco during their morning commute to work. Maybe that's why Rhode Island loves them some coffee milk. You can't drink hot coffee on the way to work because of all the shakey shakey shakey so instead it's become an anytime drink like chocolate milk. Or maybe those roads suck so bad that you need something to help deal: more caffeine please!!

The study wasn't done by some bedding company or art supply store like other random studies all over the internet where you have to think to yourself: ummm why are they the experts on that? This study actually makes sense because it was commissioned and researched by the Bureau of Transportation. This is their field and they know it well.

So just how bad is the news for Rhode Island? Pretty bad actually. The study found that 48% of Rhode Island's roads are in "poor" condition. Almost half the roads in Rhode Island suck badly. Yikes. To make you feel a little better, New Jersey wasn't far behind with 45% of their roads in poor condition. Hawaii is third worst at 40%.

Tennessee has the best roads in America. Only 5.4% of their roadways are considered to be in "poor" condition.

So Rhode Island has the worst roads in America. But did Rhode Island make the 2024 worst cities for driving list like fellow New Englander Massachusetts did? Glance on below for the answer:

It's a new year, and here we have a new, dubious list that Boston has landed on: the worst cities for driving in America.

So what else is new, right? Last year, we learned about how dangerous driving in Massachusetts can be. We also took a hard look at road rage in Boston. It was bad, but not the worst. Which would be a funny slogan for the Massachusetts Office of Travel and Tourism to adopt: "Visit Boston: Our Road Rage is Bad, But It's Not The Worst!" VisitMA, I'm available to consult. Call me.

This new bit of data about the dangers of driving in the Commonwealth comes courtesy of Circuit. It's called The Worst Cities for Driving in America and, as I've already mentioned, Boston not only lands on the list, but it lands in the Top 10. "Well, how bad can it be, though? How many cities are in the study," you might ask. Bad, I would answer. As there are 80 cities in the study.

The methodology for this one is pretty robust, too. Circuit collected data from a variety of sources, and used the following five variables to determine their rankings: time spent in rush hour per year, time spent in traffic congestion per year, money spent on fuel due to congestion per year, last mile speed (all from 2022), and fatal car accidents (from 2021).

You can dig into their full report here, which also includes per-category breakdowns and lots of interesting info on how driving in these cities impacts delivery drivers. Keep on scrolling to find out where Boston landed and--more importantly--which cities outranked us. That way we'll have someone else to make fun of to distract from the fact that we're as bad as we are.

Final Score: 52.11

Dallas was dinged for their number of fatal crashes; they placed 6th in that category.

Final Score: 57.60

The island paradise got penalized for what you'd expect: No. 1 for worst fuel prices. Take the Skyline instead.

Final Score: 59.57

The City by the Bay landed in the Top 10 of every category except fatal crashes. So they've got that going for them.

Final Score: 59.76

Philadelphia is No. 1!...for last mile speed rank. More like Fail-adelphia. At least their plows are cool!

Final Score: 60.95

Dallas was all "hey, we're sixt for fatal crashes" and Houston is like "hold our beer, we're first!" Take the bus.

Final Score: 67.11

Second place for time in rush hour traffic. The Beltway is hell, they say.

Final Score: 67.98

Boston finished in the Top 5 of every category except fatal crashes, where we were 57th. Small victories!

Final Score: 70.57

Again, small victories. At least Boston didn't place worse than one of the worst places to drive in the universe.

Final Score: 79.46

Top 5 finishers in every category. I'm actually surprised Chicago didn't finish first. Actually, I'm not. Because...

Final Score: 89.68

...of COURSE New York City finished first. You'd have to be mad to want to drive there.