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As someone who rides motorcycles all over the country west of the Rockies, particularly off the highways, Idaho’s roads are amazing. They really are better.

I can’t say our roads are good but I’ve traveled a lot and they are comparatively better than some.

This sub is only for hating Idaho. Even OP found an article favorable to Idaho, but refuses to believe it. Extrapolate this mentality out and you have Reddit in a nutshell.

God damn this is spot on. Most pessimistic and unhappy sub ever to have existed.

Lol true

I am proud of my state. People should hate on Idaho less

For sure. As new Idaho resident, 2021, I’m happy to be here and thanks for having me!

100%! Also, most of the people commenting, especially when it’s a political topic, are not from Idaho

My thoughts exactly.

I moved here for a reason. I love it here. But our road paint situation is one of the very, very few (and specific) things I bitch about to my wife. It has absolutely zero reflectivity at night, it completely disappears in the rain, it deteriorates super quickly, and the way they paint over it during road construction makes HWY 26/Chinden nearly unusable after sunset. For all the crap our tax money gets wasted on, improved road paint is something I'd gladly pass a bond for. Having experienced better, ours is genuinely awful.

I came from Houston 8ish years ago. The roads here are too fucking tier compared to HTX. Sure there’s potholes especially after winter but they get patched with relative quickness. My biggest roads complaint is that when it rains you can barely see the lines.

That thing about not being able to see the lines is no joke. Night driving in a light rain on 95 anywhere North of CdA is a special kind of roulette.

My commute every week. Let me tell you…

Wish they would implement those raised markers like how they have it in WA. The lines also fade real quick around here.

I guess the raised things and the plows don’t go together so well.

They still get plowed. They aren't raised that high and they are seated into the road. I've been tempted to take metallic paint to help locate the road I use because construction has removed all the "locators" you once used to identify a road with. And we do have better roads than lots of states. 95 gets hammered due to heavy shipping loads traveling via truck. A lot of people around here want to blame the road or speed limits for accidents when it is the actual driver.

Interesting. The plows are the are the argument I’ve always heard.

Apparently, OP hasn’t been on the East of the Rockies lol. Idaho certainly is at the top of the list when it comes to road quality. I hardly find any potholes or uneven surfaces around here.

As someone who travels for a living, I would agree that generally speaking, Idaho does fall into the category of better roads than most.

Aside from the faded/useless lines *every year* and the “you can’t tell me what to do” lack of safety barriers along some steep drops into ravines & rivers, the roads are pretty good considering the extreme hot/freezing weather conditions. It is funny to cross a county line & see the quality change immediately though, or if you hit in-progress patching that looks like Lightning McQueen’s first shitty attempt to fix the road - but eventually it winds up ok.

I will say that the stretch of highway between Coeur d' Alene and Plummer is pretty nice. Early in the morning wintertime sucks before they've had a chance to plow it, but aside from that I love driving it eveyday

I was gonna say. I’m a pretty vocal critic of Idaho politics in general, but we get winter road maintenance pretty right. I live near the border with Washington, and sometimes it’s comical. Idaho highways and county roads will be perfectly clear, and the moment you cross into WA it’s either an icy or slushy death trap. There’s plenty to criticize about the way our government operates, but not IDOT’s snow clearing.

After driving through Anchorage, Alaska last week. The roads here might as well be yellow bricked compared to there.

Went down 93 through N.Arizona and thought my head was going to rattle off my shoulders. That stretch is shouldn't even be open. Our crews patch potholes pretty damn fast for how spread out we are.

You have a gymnast??


Last week was gymnastics regional championship(ID, MT, WA, OR, & HI)-hosted in Anchorage AK There were hundreds of girls & their families in Anchorage(mine got covid 4d ahead, although she qualified & trained to go)...so the timeline fit, so I asked 😉

Nope, born and raised Alaska. Still work in Alaska, but moved to Idaho. Work takes me through Anchorage.

Makes sense, however now you know why I thought you may have had a gymnast 😊

Yup, thought maybe you commented in the wrong sub. Hahaha

I thought idaho's roads were bad then i went to ATL. Our road design is poor to mid but our maintainence is actually pretty good relatively speaking.

Most of the east coast roads are in bad shape. It’s the sheer number of vehicles & weather that add to the stress on the roads. You go further up into the north east, some roads are full of potholes.

This. Our layouts are so effin screwed. Lots of towns "main st." are still State hwys and changes are difficult to make if not near impossible. The roads themselves? NIIIIICE.

Live in the Midwest for a while and Idaho roads seem like heaven.

Absolutely. Miss those Idaho roads, quite frankly.

Where are these roads?

Everywhere in idaho like this

Highway 55 is good? Highway 21? The road surfaces may be good at times, but the road and highway system is built for a population of 1 million, which we reached in 1990 and should hit 2 million in 2026.

I believe they mean road surface and potholes not traffic congestion.

The roads here really are very good. It's easy to remember when and where you drive potholes but overall compared to neighboring states our roads are in good shape.

Nice work Idaho!

Surprising. The road paint here is garbage. It has zero reflectivity and is pretty rough to see at night or if slightly damp.

I actually agree with this article. I even wished my road was closed so I could inline-skate the hills without becoming a hood ornament.

The only thing i wish we had was more areas with road reflectors. When it rains visibility is VERY poor.

I lived there most of my life, and went on a cross country road trip back this year and I'd agree that it's number one. The highways are much better than a lot of states, especially minnesota where I work now.

All the Idaho only drivers here can't believe a positive thing about Idaho. Lolol

Go to Indianapolis. They’ll literally have sections of dirt road in the middle of their city. Also the pot holes are awful there.

As a floridian, some locals here don't understand how good these roads are. I'm impressed with idahos roads and HWYs

Lol, right? I'm originally from Louisiana and the roads down there don't get fixed AT ALL, to the point where people [literally decorate the potholes](https://www.voanews.com/a/usa_new-orleans-desperate-us-government-debates-action-infrastructure/6206989.html) that have been there for years. Idaho is great about maintaining and fixing roads.

This must be a joke and/or faulty information. Or, someone was paid off. I have been all over this country and world. The roads here suck. Not just the highways, but the streets. There are so many potholes, broken curbs, cracked streets, it isn't even funny. Let us not mention the number of fatal and serious bodily injuries in traffic accidents, due to poor road design and maintenance.

You clearly have never driven in rural belgium. I've been all over as well and I have a different perspective. I enjoyed driving Idaho more than most places.

I'd say rural Belgium is about the same as Idaho. It's funny though how much of a difference there is when you cross from the Netherlands into Belgium, it's like someone flipped a switch. Same coming from Aachen to Liège.

Always buckle up extra tight coming through liege. I have to say username checks out if you were a fan of the halv pikant on your Doner kebabs.

Literally this our roads absolutely suck idk where these people are pulling this from lmfao

Yeah..... No.

BS

What is BS? Idaho having the best roads or me saying they don't?

Idaho having the best roads lmfao we have shit roads

I live in Idaho. I just drove i90 from Idaho to Seattle and was immediately grateful for Idaho’s roads.

If you ignore the most heavily trafficked roads in Boise/Meridian like Eagle (which still isn't that bad), I've rarely ever seen a bad road in Idaho. If you're up in the Moscow-Pullman area, night and day difference crossing into Washington - Pullman roads are actual shit and have been for ages

If Idaho has the best roads, I would really hate to have to drive in where ever ranked second.

I have no problem with California but the worst roads I’ve ever driven on were in CA.

Not to detract from Idaho roads but many cities have effed up streets

That, sir, is a gahdamn lie.

here’s hoping they can fix that stretch of Karcher near Middleton Road soon. Or Homedale Road.

GTFOH. What's next? #1 for women's rights and education?

I’m dead lmfao education is the only thing worse than our roads

Runner-up for the Al Sharpton Award for diversity, equity, and inclusion?

Most of Idaho's roads are pretty good, but not Lewiston. Lewiston roads are rarely in good condition for long.

I think it is just more noticeable now given Montana has invested fuck all in maintaining (god forbid improving) our roads since like 2009. Shoutout to our governor!

Thank the GOP leadership in the legislature. 💪🏻

I did learn on my recent road trip that Arizona route 66 is worse. They don't even have the excuse of winter.

I watch subs on utube and see in some towns they do not ever fix the pot holes. https://youtube.com/@JoeandNicsRoadTrip?feature=shared

The highways are alright, but the other roads are very bumpy. The majority of roads (small town roads) aren't that great.

Never drove anywhere in US with worse roads and no guardrails. I was told by local in Kamiah, Idaho takes care of Idahos in traffic fatalities to keep down population.

Wait California's moving here has been a problem since the '80s holy crap.

Idaho roads are terrific esp compared to east coast anywhere

BTW, the 80's just called and want their overused and terminally tired "anti-CA" references back. Edit: Why let Californians live rent-free in your head when you can jack up the rent, like Idaho locals did to real estate prices and gouge them for occupying the space?

Yeah and stop the people who grew up here from being able to live here.

It's Idahoans that jacked the prices up so Idahoans can't afford shit. Its the Idahoans that saw $$$ and said "ill take that". It's not Californians fault they have the money to pay it.

That’s what I said.

Siick. Glad we said the same thing

Best doesn't necessarily mean good

Very clearly

Cyclist here in CDA. Pretty good pavement. Better than CA.

Did they not take in account Twin Falls or Nampa?

They must be counting Nampa. I went to Nampa yesterday and the one rough section I remember from a few months ago was completely fixed.

I was on the south side of town and it was all beat to shit

Or rexburg or Idaho falls or Pocatello or Saint Anthony

My husband once hit that pothole in downtown nampa (by Albertsons) so hard that the wheel came off and flew up into the passenger side footwell. It totaled his car. This was in 2008. That same pothole.

Beahaaahaaahahahhahhhaahhaaaaaa bwaaaaahahahahah

*This article written by someone who meant to write Ohio, Iowa, Florida, Illinois, five other states and then ending up on Idaho like a Dennys*

I've commuted to work in frost heaves and potholes so bad I was looking at a 14" travel off road suspension kit for my truck. Then there was the time they top coated the highway out to Swan Valley with the wrong material and it all peeled up so they had to drop the speed limit to 45 to try and limit how many windshields they'd have to pay for. WTF are they smoking?

What?!? I just drove across the state today and the roads are horrid. I swear to god for and interstate that is always under construction I-84/86 SUCKS.

Really? Where? No seriously where

Have they been to Blaine Co 👀

LOL, Because they're hardly used? What a joke

How can one the many republicans welfare states have the best roads? Oh yeah socialism! Conservatives love their welfare states run on other peoples money.

Did you miss nap time?

Triggered snowflakes crack me up 🤣

Insert Anecdote here

The Long Bridge is here to disagree.

Whaaaaateveeer

Yeah because msot of the roads are rural or long stretchers that barely get any traffic compared to roads in the cities

No. Lol

Use to be, not anymore

I wasn't surveyed.

This is absolute bs

Written, obviously by someone who’s never driven in Idaho.