Study finds that Michigan has the worst roads in the U.S.

A software company has come up with a new methodology to tell us what we already know: Michigan has the worst roads in the country.

In a piece published by Medium, the San Francisco-based computer vision software company lvl5 recently released a report ranking of the best and worst roads in the U.S. after conducting research for autonomous vehicles. The crowdsourced data — culled from over five million miles of roads via the iPhone app Payver — officially showcases Michigan as the reddest of red states. Except, in this case, red indicates terrible road quality rather than terrible political ideology.

Payver works by collecting video recordings from mostly Uber and Lyft drivers as they commute around the country. Lvl5 then applies its algorithm to the crowdsourced data to grade road conditions and point out problem areas.

Many Michiganders often cite nearby states like Ohio and Indiana as examples of better roads; however, the data includes many Midwestern states among the bottom of the barrel. The red on the map seems to bleed outward from the mitten-shaped epicenter.

Topping the list of the best roads was Florida, which only adds to the reasons why many Michigan snowbirds flock there in the winter.

The lvl5 data also attempted to find a correlation between state gas taxes and road quality but found none. Michigan’s 26 percent fuel tax is middle-of-the-road in comparison to the rest of the country, but apparently, it isn’t enough to get us out of the hole.

Mike Dionne is an editorial intern for Metro Times.

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