Louisiana Roads Voted Nation's Worst for Second Year; Arkansas' Most Improved

Annual survey also ranks best roads, best and worst car drivers.

TUSCALOOSA, Ala., Jan. 17 -- While campaigning for the Republican presidential nomination, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee touts his road improvement efforts that moved Arkansas from the state with the worst roads to "the most improved road system in the country," he says, in the annual Highway Report Card survey conducted by Overdrive, the trucking industry's leading magazine for owner-operators.

Huckabee will be pleased to learn that Arkansas' I-40 once again gains high marks for Most Improved Segment -- for the third year in a row.

Not faring so well is Louisiana, named the state with the nation's worst roads for the second consecutive year as it continues to recover from hurricanes Katrina and Rita. And all-time worst offender Pennsylvania, which topped the Worst Roads category for 12 of the survey's 17 years, ranks second on both the Worst Roads and Most Improved Road lists.

Texas tops more superlative lists than any other state, ranking first for Best Roads, most available overnight truck parking, best truck stops and best four-wheelers. Tennessee's 450-mile segment of I-40 tops the best segment of road list for the second year in a row.

  Other survey highlights:

  -- Most respondents said road rage increased during the past year, with 31
     percent saying it increased significantly.
  -- New York beat out California for the honor of having the worst
     automobile drivers; Texas again had the best drivers.
  -- Alabama continues to have the weakest truck inspections and law
     enforcement; California has the toughest.

More than 375 owner-operators, most with at least 20 years in the industry, responded to this year's survey. Each category is based on a separate question. Read the entire article at http://www.overdrivedigital.com/.

  WORST ROADS
  1. Louisiana
  2. Pennsylvania
  3. Oklahoma
  4. California
  5. Arkansas

  BEST ROADS
  1. Texas
  2. Florida
  3. Tennessee
  4. Virginia
  5. Ohio

  WORST SEGMENT
  1. I-10 Louisiana
  2-3. (tie) I-40 Oklahoma and I-80 Pennsylvania
  4. I-40 Arkansas
  5. I-5 California

  BEST SEGMENT
  1. I-40 Tennessee
  2. I-75 Florida
  3. I-10 Texas
  4. I-81 Virginia
  5. I-80 Ohio

  MOST IMPROVED SEGMENT
  1. I-40 Arkansas
  2. I-80 Pennsylvania
  3-4. (tie) I-30 Arkansas and I-10 Louisiana
  5-6. (tie) I-75 Georgia and I-44 Missouri

  WORST FOUR-WHEELERS
  1. New York
  2. California
  3. Illinois
  4. Florida
  5. Texas

  BEST FOUR-WHEELERS
  1. Texas
  2. California
  3-4. (tie) Wyoming and Tennessee
  5. Minnesota

  TOUGHEST TRUCK INSPECTIONS AND LAW ENFORCEMENT
  1. California
  2. Ohio
  3. Pennsylvania
  4. Iowa
  5. Connecticut

  WEAKEST TRUCK INSPECTIONS AND LAW ENFORCEMENT
  1. Alabama
  2. Texas
  3. Oklahoma
  4. West Virginia
  5. South Carolina

Published by Randall-Reilly Publishing, Overdrive has been the leading business publication for owner-operators since 1961. The award-winning publication is distributed to more than 100,000 owner-operators each month at their homes and places of business.