How road conditions in Illinois have deteriorated since 2000

The United States boasts an impressive interstate network of 4.2 million miles of roads—but underlying that reputation is a backlog of $786 billion in needed repairs, according to the American Society of Civil Engineers. On average, the society estimates, American motorists spend a collective $130 billion on extra vehicle repairs and fuel costs as a result of driving on poor-quality roads and bridges.

In 2000, 82.6% of U.S. roads were considered acceptable to drive on, according to federal standards, which look at how rough or smooth a road surface is based on how much vibration a car's suspension has to absorb while driving on it. By 2020, a smaller share—81%—of U.S. roads were rated acceptable.

TruckInfo.net used Bureau of Transportation Statistics data to analyze how road conditions in Illinois have changed over the past two decades, as part of a larger analysis of U.S. road conditions. The analysis considers the change in the share of roads considered to be in acceptable condition.

In 2000, over 90% of the roads in Illinois were rated as being in acceptable condition. By 2020, that share had dropped by about 10 percentage points. Illinois spends $123,522 per state-controlled mile of highway, ranking 39th nationally for total disbursements per mile.

Road condition is determined by the International Roughness Index, which measures deviations from pavement surfaces significant enough to affect driving. Roads with IRI values below 170 are considered to be in acceptable condition, while anything above 170 is considered poor condition. Data represents the percentage point change from 2000 to 2020.