The recent Genoa motorway bridge collapse in Italy is proof that failing infrastructure is a persistent worldwide problem. U.S. infrastructure, which is under-maintained and underfunded, is hardly immune from such risks. After all, bridges have collapsed without warning in this country, too.
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Some U.S. states have it worse than others when it comes to dodgy infrastructure, according to a new study by 24/7 Wall Street as reported by USA Today. The study looks at the condition of roads, bridges and dams — all critical elements at risk of catastrophic failure — and found that Rhode Island has the nation's worst infrastructure.
In that state, nearly a quarter of the roads are in poor condition (24.6%, the highest in the nation in that metric) and 23.3% of the state's bridges are deficient (also the highest share in the nation). Some 42.3% of the state's dams are at high hazard risk.
Also in the bottom five are Hawaii, West Virginia, Pennsylvania and California.
The report states the nation's best state for infrastructure is Florida, where only 1.3% of the roads are in poor condition, 2.1% of the bridges are deficient and 6.3% of the dams are high hazard.
Trailing Florida for best infrastructure in the country are Georgia, Minnesota, Nevada and Kansas.
To identify the states with the best and worst infrastructure, 24/7 Wall Steet examined data on roads and bridges compiled by the Federal Highway Administration's report Highway Statistics 2016, while dam data came from the National Inventory of Dams, a database maintained by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Association of State Dam Officials.
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