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Question of the day

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Illinois

* This is what I’d call “fun with numbers“…

Drivers in Illinois pay the second highest gas tax in the country. Despite that, Illinois is near the top of the list for the states with the worst pothole problem.

A study by QuoteWizard says Illinois is the 7th worst state for potholes. Midwestern states dominate the top ten with Indiana, Michigan and Ohio also making an appearance. […]

Researchers at QuoteWizard looked at Google search statistics going back to 2004.

Yeah, it’s been bad. But the capital bill which raised the Motor Fuel Tax was passed in 2019 and this “study” goes back to 2004.

But I full-on hit two deep potholes on the I-55 bridge north of the Joliet refinery Friday evening and was cursing IDOT for not keeping up with the problems.

* The Question: Which potholes on state-maintained roads near you need fixing pronto?

posted by Rich Miller
Monday, Feb 14, 22 @ 10:50 am

Comments

Rt 3 south of Chester is a good idea of what roads in a post-apocalyptic world will look like.

Comment by Flyin' Elvis'-Utah Chapter Monday, Feb 14, 22 @ 10:54 am
That stretch of 55 is always bad. Lots of accidents/deaths in that area.

The worst potholes are the ones that open up in the seams between lanes a few miles up the road past rt30. Long narrow deep cracks, about the exact width of a… motorcycle tire. Hitting one with a car when changing lanes is annoying, but not usually damaging. Hitting one on a motorcycle would be a death sentence.

Comment by TheInvisibleMan Monday, Feb 14, 22 @ 10:56 am
flying Elvis. that stretch of road is in shambles due to the insanity of hundreds of trucks daily delivering coal to the river.

Comment by Blue Dog Monday, Feb 14, 22 @ 11:23 am
The pothole on my heart from the crushing impact all this transportation pollution has on the ability of Illinois communities to breathe freely, and on climate change.

In all seriousness, though, vehicles in Illinois emit more carbon than like 190 countries. But the next 10 years are all about making our cars drive a little smoother. Better start building the levees.

Comment by Ok Monday, Feb 14, 22 @ 11:25 am
Blue Dog

The most “needed” road / repairs in Illinois (which Illinois should not build as only out-of-state trucks would use it) is the “66 Corridor” connecting Paducah with Cape Girardeau. Year in and year out the trucks “beat the heck” out of the existing road(s) they use, and consistently they’re the worst.

Comment by Anyone Remember Monday, Feb 14, 22 @ 11:31 am
I-55 from Coal City Road to I-80 is always terrible this time of year. A few years back I nailed one in the dark and thought my tire would have to be flat after it. Thank good it didn’t pop.

Haven’t been that way in a while but a quick run to Bloomington yesterday and coming home the right lane on 55 from Lincoln to Springfield is in rough shape.

Comment by Cool Papa Bell Monday, Feb 14, 22 @ 11:31 am
Potholes keep sleepy drivers awake.

Comment by Pius Monday, Feb 14, 22 @ 11:40 am
My commute has been ok, honestly. But I drove from Chicago to Lansing, MI this weekend and WOW are their potholes worse than ours. Whole lanes of the interstate and lots of local roads were undrivable.

Here I feel like we have potholes. In Michigan, it was more like whole-road deterioration.

Comment by Pappy Monday, Feb 14, 22 @ 11:40 am
IL-180. From US-150 to Galva in Knox County. It’s horrible and narrow, when to semi’s met, go chance someone could lose a mirror. The hole throw vehicles around.

Comment by Gus Monday, Feb 14, 22 @ 11:43 am
= Potholes keep sleepy drivers awake. =

And AAA busy.

Comment by JoanP Monday, Feb 14, 22 @ 11:48 am
This makes me wonder: is there anywhere that breaks down total miles of state maintained roads per capita? For example, a smaller, but more densely populated state (MA, CT, etc) probably has faaaaar fewer miles of state maintained roads per person than large states with large rural areas.

Then of course you have to correct apples to apples with regard to weather as well (nothern states have to deal with freeze/thaw cycles that southern states don’t, for example).

This feels like the only way to make the data actually useful, but seems perhaps overly complicated unless the data already exists.

Comment by Homebody Monday, Feb 14, 22 @ 11:54 am
I think Macarthur Blvd between South Grand and Wabash in Springfield is still state-maintained, despite the Route 54 signs off there since the 80s. There are plans to widen that stretch (I’ll believe it when I see it) but that is one of the worst streets in Springfield. Plus it has the ugly looking brown pea gravel asphalt that’s seen often in IDOT Dist 6. (Was that Cellini’s favorite type of Asphalt back in the day?).

South 5th and 6th between South Grand and 55/72 ranks up among the worst too. I think the state still maintains it even though it has the “Business Interstate 55″ shields (one of the many old US 66 alignments in Springfield).

Comment by NonAFSCMEStateEmployeeFromChatham Monday, Feb 14, 22 @ 12:26 pm
No pot holes. Just really rough roads. Most noticeable has been IL 18 west of I39.

The freeze/thaw is going to jackhammer the roads.

Comment by Huh? Monday, Feb 14, 22 @ 12:29 pm
IL is always going to be pothole central. With all the Agriculture down state, our crazy weather swings (aka 12″ of snow one week 50’s the next), lots of industry, and commerce transiting across the state IDOT has an almost impossible task keeping up. More Semi’s and multiple freeze thaws are not condusive to smooth asphalt.

Worse stretch is 255 around Dupo, a quarry and a huge intermodal have that stretch constantly chewed up.

Comment by Mason born Monday, Feb 14, 22 @ 12:39 pm
Anyone ever think that our roads are so bad because of how much it costs to fix them? Maybe if the 150 folks did their jobs instead of constantly wining anytime someone tries to give the drivers in this state a break with “their money” things wouldn’t be so bad.

Comment by Really Monday, Feb 14, 22 @ 12:43 pm
All of Bloomington. Ugh

Comment by Tired Teacher Monday, Feb 14, 22 @ 12:58 pm
Just passed a Region 2 crew out filling potholes!

Comment by Occasionally Moderated Monday, Feb 14, 22 @ 1:00 pm
Pappy

Over the holidays drove to Oklahoma City, the worst (& best) roads were in OK, specifically OKC. OK’s toll road are very good. I-35 in OKC (non-toll), on the other hand, was far worse than anything I’ve driven on in Illinois.

Comment by Anyone Remember Monday, Feb 14, 22 @ 1:15 pm
===Year in and year out the trucks “beat the heck” out of the existing road(s) they use===

At least these trucks pay apportioned license plate fees and fuel taxes to Illinois.

In Illinois, giant truck-cranes don’t pay any of the license plate or other taxes that trucks pay.
They are not even required to have license plates.

Year in and year out the giant TRUCK-CRANES “beat the heck” out of the existing roads they use.

Comment by DuPage Monday, Feb 14, 22 @ 1:43 pm
Part of the problem is IDOT spent a lot of money building 4 lane roads with interstate interchanges where they were not needed. This happened to appease local politics. I think they learned the lesson and will stop. This wasn’t just an Illinois problem. Many states had the same problem and are in worse shape than Illinois.

Comment by Publius Monday, Feb 14, 22 @ 1:44 pm
Shockingly, not Peoria. But 74 past Galesburg to Quads was pretty rough.

Comment by Lurker Monday, Feb 14, 22 @ 3:03 pm
I agree with Mason that 255 between Dupo and IL 15 is terrible always… also I-70 WB near Effingham is brutal. But that’s in the Eastern Bloc so I don’t anticipate it getting fixed anytime soon.

Comment by Vote Quimby Monday, Feb 14, 22 @ 3:52 pm
There’s this one pothole on Hiway 67 from Macomb to Beardstown.

Comment by Bruce( no not him) Monday, Feb 14, 22 @ 3:53 pm
“trucks “beat the heck” out of the existing road”

This is an old wives tale. Contrary to popular belief, pavements are designed for the design year projected traffic, including the % multi-unit vehicles (semi trucks). Design year is typically 20 years post construction.

If you don’t believe me, go to the IDOT website, download the Bureau of Design and Environment Manual, and look up the pavement design equations.

Freeze/thaw does significantly more damage than trucks.

Comment by Huh? Monday, Feb 14, 22 @ 4:36 pm