Parade Magazine, which is distributed in Sunday newspapers around the country, highlighted plans to rebuild and repair U.S. roads and bridges in a cover story Sunday, and talked to truckers about some of the dangerous road conditions they face.
The article said that some 47,000 miles of interstate highways are a half-century old, and many are at or near their retirement age, while the Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials estimated that one in four of nearly 600,000 bridges are structurally deficient or obsolete.
The cost of repairs is high, with some estimating that the U.S. should spend $225 billion per year for the next 50 years on surface transportation projects, while current spending is just 40% of that, the article said.
Some solutions being considered in light of tighter state infrastructure budgets include putting dedicated truck lanes on 750 miles of Interstate 70 in Missouri, where state engineers are studying whether such lanes could boost safety and help highways last longer, Parade said.
The magazine also asked truck drivers with truckload carrier U.S. Xpress Enterprises to cite some of the worst roadways they have encountered in their travels, with the drivers noting deficiencies across many states.
