Report: Iowa Has America’s Best Roads

A report ranking U.S. states’ roads shows Iowa has the best and West Virginia has the worst. 

The report released Sept. 29 by Zutobi — a Swedish driver education company — ranked each state on a scale of 10 using Transportation Department data from 2020 and 2015. The report focused on road maintenance and fatalities. 

In Iowa, 91 percent of the state’s roads are classified as being in good condition, with less than one highway fatality per 100 million vehicle miles traveled, according to the 2020 data. That percentage is up nine points from the 2015 data. 

At the other end of the spectrum is West Virginia, where only 70 percent of roads are considered acceptable and there are 1.51 highway fatalities per 100 million vehicle miles traveled. In 2015, 87 percent of the state’s roads were deemed acceptable. 

Minnesota, Virginia, North Dakota and Vermont rounded out the top five states respectively, while the bottom few after West Virginia were New Mexico, Arizona, Mississippi and Hawaii. 

The states with the highest fatality rates were South Carolina (1.83 per 100 million vehicles); Mississippi (1.63); Arizona and Louisiana (1.53); West Virginia (1.51); and Alaska (1.46). 

Zutobi also compared the U.S. as a whole to other countries, with America ranking 36 out of 59 studied countries.