I have drove in 49 out of 50 states (never been to Hawaii) and Illinois ranks the worst in my opinion. It’s like they ran out of asphalt and stopped doing any repairs 10 or 20 years ago.
To people not living in the U.S., feel free to complain about your country’s roads too.
Hi neighbor! Wisconsinite here to throw our hat in the ring. I used to live on a residential road in the Milwaukee area that had a sign on either end that said “Rough Road”. It was permanently installed. There were asphalt patches on top of patches that had been used to patch older patches. Half the patches turned to potholes, and then they ran out of patch money. But apparently had just enough left in the budget for signs.
I moved to across town to another suburb of Milwaukee, and the new street I live on partially caved in right beside my neighbor’s driveway
Fellow Wisconsinite here (waves at new friend).
Honestly, as far as highways go, travel through Indiana. I have to take I-65 the entire length of Indiana 4 times a year as my in-laws live in Kentucky, and it is absolute crap. Every single over pass has a rough patch under it. I’m not sure if it is caused by water coming off the over pass, but every one has it.
Several years ago, truckers started boycotting Indiana truck stops, because the highways were so bad.
Now as far as local roads, yeah there are some pretty terrible ones. One road that I go on nearly every day, as it’s one of the outlets for my neighbor hood, is owned by three different entities. Inside the neighborhood, the road is owned by the city and it is well taken care of. Where the city care ends, the county takes over for about 2000 feet and that is reasonable. Then there is a section about 1000’ long that I’m not honestly sure who owns it and it is in HORRIBLE condition, until about 500’ before a major road, where the county comes in again and that part of the road is in good shape.
TL;DR: One road, three owners and one owner doesn’t do shit to maintain the road.
“Rough road” signs aren’t so bad. “Deteriorating road” signs are when shit gets real.
“Paved Road Ends” is also fun.
Dirt roads are too common in my county to even notice that sign.
I remember when they had those signs permanently installed on I-94! It was the stretch through Brookfield, if I recall correctly. So, some things have improved.