And consider these totals:
- Rural roads have a traffic fatality rate that is more than three times higher than that for all other roads.
- In 2009, non-Interstate rural roads had a traffic fatality rate of 2.31 deaths for every 100 million vehicle miles of travel, compared with a fatality rate on all other roads of 0.76 deaths for an equal number of miles. Crashes on the nation’s rural, non-Interstate routes resulted in 17,075 fatalities in 2009, accounting for 51% of the nation’s 33,808 traffic deaths in 2009.
- In 2008, 12% of the nation’s major rural roads were rated in poor condition and another 43% were rated in fair condition. Vermont has the highest percentage of roads rated poor, at 43%, followed by Oklahoma at 30%; Kansas, 28%; Missouri, 20%; California, 18%; South Dakota, 17%; and Illinois, 16%.
- In 2010, 13% of the nation’s rural bridges were rated as structurally deficient and 10% were rated as functionally obsolete. A bridge is structurally deficient if there is significant deterioration of the bridge deck, supports or other major components. Structurally deficient bridges are often posted for lower weight or closed to traffic, restricting or redirecting large vehicles, including commercial trucks, school buses and emergency vehicles.
Number of Bridges Structurally Deficient
Iowa......................5,358
Missouri..................4,289
Nebraska.................2,878
Kansas....................2,901
Mississippi...............2,820
Ohio......................2,795
North Carolina...........2,442
Illinois....................2,373
Indiana...................1,927
Michigan.................1,467
Kentucky..................1,362
Tennessee................1,246
South Dakota............1,231
Minnesota................1,209
Wisconsin................1,207
