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Study finds almost half of Virginia roads are in poor condition

Posted at 11:42 AM, Jul 10, 2015
and last updated 2015-07-10 11:42:34-04

RICHMOND, Va. — A new federal report found that almost half of Virginia’s roads are in poor condition. The claim from the United Sates Department of Transportation is that because of a lack of federal funding,  many state roads are deteriorating.

The snapshot of Virginia’s roadways cited federal highway administration data that found 26-percent of bridges in the Commonwealth are structurally deficient or obsolete while 47-percent of the roads are in poor or mediocre condition.

The report also cited the American Society of Civil Engineers, which said driving on the troublesome roads costs Virginia motorists $1.3 billion a year, or about $254 per motorist.

In June 2015 the Commonwealth Transportation Board (CTB) approved the latest Six-Year Improvement Program (SYIP), which allocated $13.3 billion to transportation projects over the next six fiscal years beginning July 1, 2015.

Projects include highway, road, bridge, rail, transit, bicycle/pedestrian paths and other transportation improvements across the state.

The new report was released to promote the GROW AMERICA act, which calls upon Congress to increase and stabilize funding for the nation’s infrastructure.

The report found that 65-percent of the nation’s roads are rated in less than good condition, 25-percent of the nation’s bridges require significant repair or can’t handle today’s traffic and 45-percent of Americans lack access to transit.