Disproportionately high traffic fatality rates, significantly more deficiencies, and an inability to handle rising freight volumes are just some of the critical problems afflicting the network of rural roads and bridges in the U.S., a new report finds.
The report,
Rural Connections: Challenges and Opportunities in America’s Heartland, raised several red flags concerning the current state of rural roads and bridges across America. It was produced by
The Road Information Program (TRIP).
First, rural traffic fatalities are three times higher than all other roads. TRIP found that in 2009, non-interstate rural roads had a traffic fatality rate of 2.31 deaths per 100 million vehicle miles of travel, compared to a fatality rate on all other roads of 0.75 deaths per 100 million vehicle miles of travel.
And although they carry only 25% of all vehicle miles of travel in the U.S., 51% of the nation’s 33,808 traffic deaths in 2009 occurred in crashes on rural roads.
Second, there’s a greater and increasing level of deterioration among rural roads and bridges compared to all other U.S. roads, according to TRIP’s research. In 2008, 12% of the nation’s major rural roads were rated in poor condition and another 43% were rated in mediocre or fair condition. In 2010, 13% of the nation’s rural bridges were rated as structurally deficient and 10% were functionally obsolete, the group found.
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