Believe It Or Not, This Is How Minnesota’s Roads Compare To The Rest Of The Country

When most Minnesotans think about the conditions of our roads, visions of dodging massive potholes are probably one of the things that come to mind.

For me, the road I live on has been like driving on the moon (or so I'd imagine) for as long as I've lived there, which has been over a decade.

Many Minnesotans can probably think of a road with tire-eating, suspension-destroying potholes we learn to try to avoid. That's all, of course, due to the weather extremes we experience here in Minnesota.

The worst of it comes in the spring months, when constant freezing and thawing really ramps up the pavement-destroying process before crews can get out and patch things up to make roads as passable as possible.

Despite Minnesota's weather being perfect for pothole production, it turns out the Land of 10,000 Lakes is far from having the country's worst roads.

READ MORE: Poor roads in Minnesota cost drivers this much this year in repairs & maintenance

The most recent data from the government agency, the U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics, shows Minnesota (believe it or not) has among the best roads in the entire country.

Where does the quality of Minnesota's roads rank compared to other states?

When looking at the percentage of roads with "acceptable" quality, Minnesota is among the 15 best states in the country. I guess all of that seemingly endless road construction whenever the snow isn't flying is paying off!

Top 15 States With The Best Roads

1. Indiana
2. Kansas
3. South Dakota
4. Wyoming
5. Vermont
6. Tennessee
7. Idaho
8. Georgia
9. North Dakota
10. Nebraska
11. West Virginia
12. Alabama
13. Iowa
14. Kentucky
15. Minnesota

While nobody is going to claim Minnesota's roads are the best in the country, 90.54% of the state's roadways meet or exceed "acceptable" quality levels. For reference, here's how Minnesota compares to its neighbors:

• South Dakota: 95.10%
• North Dakota: 93.33%
• Iowa: 91.26%
• Minnesota: 90.54%
• Wisconsin: 75.12%

Not sure what's going on in Wisconsin, but ouch.

The good news is that Minnesota's roads are significantly better than they used to be years ago. Data from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics for 1995 shows Minnesota with only 56.12% of roads being "acceptable". Those numbers significantly improved to 92.84% in 2000 and reached their highest mark (92.89%) in 2008.

Get our free mobile app

In recent years, those numbers have bounced around, dipping as low as 84.08% in 2019. Since then, Minnesota's road conditions have improved to over 90% acceptable each year.

Where are the worst roads in the country? Not counting Washington D.C. and Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, Hawaii, and New Mexico are at the bottom of the list.