TRIP, a national transportation research nonprofit released its annual report on the nation’s rural roads and bridges. The report finds that roads, highways, rails and bridges lack adequate capacity, they fail to provide needed levels of connectivity to many communities, and they cannot adequately support growing freight travel in many corridors. Rural roads and bridges have significant deficiencies and deterioration, they lack many desirable safety features, and rural non-Interstate roads experience fatal traffic crashes at a rate far higher than all other roads and highways.
The rate of traffic fatalities on Arizona’s non-Interstate, rural roads in 2022 was nearly double the fatality rate on all other roads in the state – 2.87 fatalities per 100 million vehicle miles of travel vs. 1.53 – and is the third highest in the nation. There were 291 fatalities on Arizona’s non-Interstate, rural roads in 2022. Rural roads are more likely to have narrow lanes, limited shoulders, sharp curves, exposed hazards, pavement drop-offs, steep slopes and limited clear zones along roadsides. The report finds that Arizona’s rural roads have significant deficiencies. Twelve percent of Arizona’s rural roads are rated in poor condition – the 20th highest rate in the nation- and 22 percent are in mediocre condition. Two percent of Arizona’s rural bridges are rated in poor/structurally deficient condition. Bridges rated poor/structurally deficient have significant deterioration to the major components of the bridge and are often posted for lower weight or closed to traffic, restricting or redirecting large vehicles, including agricultural equipment, commercial trucks, school buses and emergency services vehicles.
“As many already know, voters in Pinal County are being asked to vote on Proposition 486, which extends the current road maintenance fund. Extending Proposition 486 will go a long way to help with this serious problem,” said David Martin, president of the Arizona Chapter of the Associated General Contractors of America.
