I wrote earlier this week about how Louisiana was the most violent state in the country.
Today, I have more bad news.
Louisiana’s roads received the worst ranking in the United States from MainStreet.com.
The rating was based on four factors.
First was “poor-condition mileage,” which compared the percentage of each state’s roads — including rural interstates, urban interstates and other rural and urban roads — that were categorized as in “poor condition.” Louisiana came in eighth out of 50 (first being the worst).
Next, data from the Federal Highway Administration data about deficient or obsolete bridges were taken into account.
Louisiana was 12th out of 50 in this category. You’d understand this ranking if you’ve ever driven over the Huey P. Long Bridge just outside New Orleans.
Safety was also taken into account by using the FHA’s data of the number of road fatalities in 2009, measured per 100 million vehicle miles traveled. The Sportsman’s Paradise had the second-most road fatalities in the U.S.
And finally, MainStreet.com used calculations from the Reason Foundation, a society that conducts public policy research, to determine peak-hour volume-to-capacity ratios on each state’s roads. We came in 23rd out of 50 in this category — Louisiana’s “best” ranking out of the four categories.
Other states that ranked in the top 10 worst roads were North Carolina, Oklahoma, West Virginia, Arkansas, Hawaii, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Kentucky and Alabama.
MainStreet.com blamed the decrepit street conditions on damage caused by the hurricanes South Louisiana has experienced in the last decade. They also blamed mass evacuations for adding additional stress to the road system.
While MainStreet.com’s explanations are acceptable, another major factor was left out — subsidence, which occurs when land gradually sinks or caves in, as in areas around the Mississippi River.
According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, land around the Mississippi River is supposed to be regularly flooded by the river, and silt should naturally replenish the land. When levees were built, the Mississippi stopped flooding the surrounding area, and in turn, the natural replenishing of the land stopped.
Since then, the land isn’t being replaced, and the ground inevitably sinks, thus destroying roads.
In some parts of Louisiana, the sinking can be pretty bad.
University civil and environmental engineering designated professor Roy Dokka told the Associated Press in 2006 that New Orleans East sank 1.7 inches between 1969 to 1971.
National Geographic also found in 2006 that most of New Orleans sinks at a rate of .25 inches per year, and some areas of New Orleans are sinking at the hefty rate of 1 inch per year.
Much of this sinking can be seen in the streets of Uptown New Orleans, where driving feels like passing over a miniature version of the Rocky Mountains. To put it simply: If you drive a low-riding vehicle, you will bottom out.
While New Orleans sees the worst of it, Baton Rouge also has its fair share of mountainous terrain. There’s plenty of places around campus with similar problems — just take a look around the North Gate area and around Aster Street near campus.
MainStreet.com did offer one consolation: Louisiana ranks eighth out of all 50 states in money allocated to it by the Federal Highway Fund.
While it’s great to hear we have the resources to build better roads, it’s easy to see how the whole situation will continue to play out.
Streets will constantly need to be repaved to alleviate poor road conditions. It’s a never-ending process.
I guess that’s what you get for building cities and roads in areas that were essentially swamps a couple hundred years ago.
Louisiana is an amazing place. The volatile geography arguably gives the state some of its charm. But with the problems caused by our unnatural leveeing of the Mississippi River and our development of swampland, our road problems will never end — ever.
Chris Grillot is a 20-year-old English and mass communication sophomore from New Orleans. Follow him on Twitter @TDR_cgrillot.
 
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Contact Chris Grillot at [email protected].