Maine’s Pothole Problem: We’re Literally in the Top 10 in the US
Potholes are a Maine tradition.
I don't really know another way to put it. We've all hit potholes that made us leave our body temporarily, with the assumption that we were now ascending to heaven, because there's no way anyone could hit a hole that size, and survive. But then we must face the crushing reality, that we likely just have a bent rim.
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For all the road construction you see around the state at any given moment, it seems like we'd have less potholes. But there's always some dodgy reason why they're there. In the town I live in, it's always a constant battle between the state and the town, whose responsibility it is to maintain the road. In the meantime, those of us that live on this road literally drive down the middle, because of all the potholes.
We all joke we have the most potholes, and we're not entirely wrong.
Driving up and down my own road is a solid indicator to me, that Maine either has challenges because of weather, or Maine doesn't give a crap about its roads. I really don't believe the latter is the case. But for all the roadwork going on everywhere, you'd think we'd have less potholes.
But if you ever thought we were among the worst in the country, you're absolutely right. A recent study proves it to be the case. In fact, we come in 9th in the whole country for being the worst. I know it seems hard to believe there are states ahead of us, but it's true. There are some places that are twice as big, with even poorer infrastructure.
Which states have it worse than we do?
The data was collected from various online searches, that featured info about potholes. It shows that Wyoming is the state that has it the worst. It's a biiiig state with a lot of roads the seemingly go nowhere fast. On the other hand, a state maybe half the size at best came in at #2, Vermont.
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In fact, New England states overall, ranked pretty high. Rhode Island and New Hampshire also made the Top 20. So it's gotta be the weather. That, combined with using salt to melt the ice and snow. But man... At least we finally know we're not entirely crazy, and someone has proven what we've known all along.
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