26th Annual Highway Report: Urban Arterial Pavement Condition

Urban Other Principal Arterials (UOPA) are four- to eight-lane roadways connecting different parts of an urban region. Overall, about 13.52% of the UOPA system—8,660 miles out of 64,054—was reported to be in poor condition (Table 14, Percent Urban Other Principal Arterial Mileage in Poor Condition, 2019, Figure 9). This is a 0.54-point decrease from 2018 where 14.06% or 8,985 miles out of 63,903 miles were in poor condition. Overall urban arterials are in much worse condition than rural arterials, rural Interstates, or urban Interstates with the percent in poor condition at 1.15%, 2.00% and 4.97% respectively.

The percent UOPA mileage in poor condition varies drastically by state, from Georgia with 1.70% to Rhode Island at 30.82%. Ten states reported less than 5% of UOPA miles in poor condition. On the other hand, six states (Rhode Island, California, Nebraska, Massachusetts, New York, and New Jersey) reported more than 20% of their UOPA mileage to be in poor condition. These six states have 21.3% of the U.S. UOPA mileage, but 42.7% of the mileage that is in poor condition.

Between 2018 and 2019, most states saw minor changes in UOPA pavement condition. Twenty-eight states saw decreases/increases of poor condition mileage of one percentage point or less, with 12 states seeing decreases and 16 states seeing increases. On the other hand, eight states had changes of more than 2% in their mileage in poor condition. The percentage of the UOPA system in poor condition in West Virginia, Indiana, and California increased (by 3.80, 2.46, and 2.04 points, respectively), while the poor mileage in Wyoming, Washington, and Alaska decreased (by 34.38, 4.34, and 4.33 points, respectively). Three states, Rhode Island, California, and Nebraska, have 11% of the U.S. UOPA mileage but 24% of the UOPA mileage that is in poor condition.

Urban Other Principal Arterial Pavement Condition — Percent in Poor Condition