If Washington Is the Second-Worst State to Drive, Who's Worse Than WA?

Reading the latest news and state safety reports matters. If you want to answer the question in the title, start with data that compare which roads wear fastest and where crashes cluster. In new york, crowded streets, aging bridges, and busy patrols at key exits push the risk higher, offering a clear contrast to washington’s urban grid. This is where house budgets and infrastructure choices filter down to every block, affecting a driver's daily experience here.

To identify the worse performers, examine road quality, maintenance cycles, and enforcement presence. In new york, the combination of heavy urban density and aging infrastructure creates more shipwrecks on the shoulder and more slow zones near parks and transit hubs. The result is a pattern you can confirm with a definitive read of the numbers–fatalities per 100k, miles of pothole repairs, and average commute times across boroughs.

Where should you look next? Look at which corridors connect neighborhoods, where funding flows, and how drivers feel when they patrol busy city streets and rural routes. Here, the data show that roads with longer maintenance backlogs and fewer dedicated patrols tend to create higher risk. Across the american map, iconic corridors matter most, because they shape everyday trips for families.

If you want a practical takeaway, inspect a local audit of traffic signals near parks, elementary routes, and popular commute paths. Look for hidden hazards, such as abrupt lane shifts or poor signage, and map them to which jurisdiction owns the road. The article aims to give you a definitive frame to compare WA with new york and other states, so you can share the news with friends and neighbors and decide where to press for better road safety next.

Comparative Driving Quality and the Longest Highways in America

Recommendation: Choose US-20 and I-90 as your spine for a cross-country drive; they offer the longest mileage with stable road quality and plentiful hotels along the way.

Across the country, these corridors display a mix of landscapes, towns, and parks that turn a long road into a set of stories. Reading the latest road-quality data helps you plan which segments to tackle first and which to save for a later leg. Each mile displays a different flavor of American terrain, from prairie to forests to mountain passes, and the route you choose will determine how you experience the road.

1. Definitive length and coverage: US-20 runs about 3,365 miles coast-to-coast, while I-90 covers roughly 3,000 miles across more than a dozen states. These corridors are ranked among the longest and most continuous routes in the country, making them ideal for focused long-haul travel.

2. Road quality and traffic patterns: on most segments, highway pavements stay solid, and signage remains clear. Traffic concentrates near metro areas, so plan mid-day passes and allow extra time for detours around construction and patrol activity in work zones.

3. Gasoline, hotels, and price planning: fuel prices vary by state along these routes; plan fuel stops every 150–250 miles and check price trends before long climbs. Book hotels in advance in peak seasons to lock in better rates and convenient access to the next leg.

4. Stops that enrich the journey: plan to visit parks, historic towns, and scenic overlooks. Each stop displays a different facet of American culture and landscape. You’ll fill the trip with photo opportunities, reading about local histories, and encounters with hidden gems along the way.

5. Practical tips and surprises: started early helps you beat traffic in big cities; if you crave family-friendly activities, include a must-do detour with parks or theme-park vibes. For smooth planning, map out a Disneyland detour logic where feasible, keep a compact safety kit, and track weather and closures as you go.

Reading these corridors end-to-end reveals where to pause for real-world value. When you plan, you can compare them across country segments, align with your budget, and decide where to focus reading and where to snap a quick photo. Stories about drivers on US-20 and I-90 show how proper pacing, park stops, and town visits create a richer journey than a straight road ride. They also demonstrate how distance, tolls, and service access influence the total trip time, which helps you choose the path that fits your must-do goals and your schedule.

How driving-rankings are calculated: metrics, weights, and data sources

Apply a transparent weighting scheme that prioritizes safety and travel-time reliability, and publish the weights with the data sources so drivers can reproduce these rankings across these states.

Metrics and weights determine the order. Safety gets 40% of the score, measured as crash rates and severity indicators drawn from NHTSA data. Travel-time reliability accounts for 25%, using on-time arrival shares and the proportion of trips that arrive within a defined window on major corridors. Driving costs represent 20%, combining unleaded gasoline price trends, tolls, and maintenance costs adjusted for regional price levels. The remaining 15% covers road quality (pavement condition, pothole density), parking efficiency in town centers, and access to iconic destinations and parks. This mix reflects how most drivers across these states value safety, predictability, and cost on long road trips through town centers and past wonders along the coast. These weights are must-do foundations for a trustworthy comparison, and they help explain seasonal shifts when people travel to places like disneyland and other parks.

Data sources pull from official records and commercial feeds. Safety uses NHTSA and state crash reports; reliability uses FHWA HPMS travel-time data and anonymized mobility datasets; cost relies on EIA unleaded price series and tolling records; road quality uses FHWA PCI and state inventories; parking metrics come from city reports and local studies; amenities and access to photo-worthy landmarks use tourism surveys and municipal data. Some sources illustrate how infrastructure evolved since the wwii era, with photo records showing routes that pass through towns, iconic buildings, and parks. Data are located across national, regional, and local levels to capture patterns from bustling metro areas to small towns. The data come from road projects started decades ago and contributed to the current grid.

Processing and interpretation convert inputs to a common 0–100 scale. Safety scores invert risk so higher is better; reliability and cost scores align so that lower delay and lower travel costs yield higher scores. We apply rolling 12-month windows and adjust for population density and vehicle mix to ensure comparability across states. Some corridors reflect wwii-era planning and long-standing traffic patterns that shape peak-hour performance. To readers, this means a single metric can mislead without cross-checks, and most useful comparisons come from looking at multiple signals together. When you explore a route that passes through towns, past iconic buildings, and toward wonders along the coast, you get a clearer view of the true driving experience across the country.

States ranking worse than Washington and the impact on drivers

Plan ahead: WA ranks near the bottom of national drive-safety scores. The five states with the lowest results are Mississippi, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Alabama. For drivers, this translates into higher crash exposure on rural lanes, older road surfaces, and longer detours during road work.

To manage risk, compare local conditions before a trip. Avoid late-evening drives through rural corridors in these places, and reserve longer routes with better lighting and surfaced roads.

• Mississippi: Rural roads, older pavement, higher crash severity. Tip: keep a wide following distance and use headlights during dusk hours.
• Louisiana: Flood-prone routes, urban congestion, weather-driven closures. Tip: check flood alerts, carry a basic emergency kit, plan alternate routes.
• Oklahoma: Long highway miles, high speeds, wildlife near lanes. Tip: adjust speed to conditions, scan for deer at dawn and dusk, ensure lights work.
• Arkansas: Sparse maintenance on rural links, deer crossings. Tip: inspect headlights, keep windows clean, slow in deer zones.
• Alabama: Rural-urban mix, aging bridges, congestion. Tip: plan breaks, verify bridge status before crossings, monitor signs.

Use this pattern to plan trips, pick safer routes, and stay alert during every mile. When you reach towns, check signs, monitor patrol activity, and use spare time to learn about recreation area closures or road work affecting travel.

Washington’s problem areas: traffic, potholes, winter conditions, and maintenance delays

Recommendation: Immediately adopt a data-driven pothole and winter-maintenance plan that patches within 48 hours of reports, pre-treats critical corridors before freeze-thaw cycles, and uses real-time driving alerts to cut delays.

Traffic is the most visible problem across urban Washington. Data from state sensors and city cameras displays how congestion concentrates on I-5, I-405, and key arterials where lanes merge and ramps funnel vehicles into crowded cores. Which strategies work best? Adaptive signals, bus-priority lanes, and traveler alerts that nudge people to different routes through the day. Reading the data about options helps drivers explore driving choices that are safer and faster. york could serve as a blueprint; through these improvements, drivers gain more reliable trips in cars, in parks along the corridor, and in the city neighborhoods where residents and visitors linger.

Potholes grow after winter cycles. Data shows patches are most needed after long freezes and wet springs. A definitive plan fixes the backlog: map hotspots with crowdsourced reports, patch fast within 24-72 hours, and use durable cold-weather mixes. Use a mobile crew, a gallon of asphalt binder, and pre-staged stock to speed repairs. People notice smoother streets and less wear on tires as cars traverse rough patches. engineer elias notes that small-scale repairs yield big improvements for drivers, and the coolest results come when the work is coordinated across neighborhoods.

Winter demands pre-planning. Pre-treatment, plows, and brine help keep lanes open and reduce freeze-thaw damage. Data indicate faster clearance and fewer closures when crews are pre-briefed and prepared. This echoes wwii-era resilience, translating to a york-style approach where readiness beats response. Elias and other forecasters should translate weather patterns into schedules; the next storm should trigger pre-deployed routes rather than post-facto fixes. When done right, residents, commuters, iconic news teams, and friends in parks stay connected to shops and schools, even in the toughest weather.

Maintenance delays stem from supply gaps and staffing constraints. A lean, responsive plan pre-positions materials, deploys mobile patch crews, and uses a clear electronic workflow that moves work through the system faster than before. Data from field operations show this approach trims wait times and stabilizes price spikes when storms hit. The gallery of success stories–from small towns to the biggest cities–demonstrates how a definitive process drives reliable fixes. They started with simple changes and now enjoy smoother trips than ever before, in the next town and across the country. This is news people want to read; residents have wonders about the price and time saved. Reading these stories helps people envision how you can drive with much more confidence than in the past.

A look at the longest highways: routes, lengths, and standout features

My recommendation: begin with US Route 20, the longest road in the United States, stretching about 3,365 miles from Boston, Massachusetts to Newport, Oregon. It keeps you on one highway for the bulk of the trip, letting you experience a wide range of landscapes and communities without constant re‑routing.

This route crosses 14 states–Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, and Oregon–delivering a diverse mix of valleys, farms, forests, and small towns. Along the way you’ll find hidden gems, historic buildings, and parks that invite short detours that feel worth it. Local stories show up in diners, at roadside museums, and in old street signs, giving you a human map to the miles you’re covering.

Interstate 90, at roughly 3,020 miles, stands as the longest Interstate and runs from Seattle to Boston. It offers a different rhythm: fewer coastal detours, steady traffic in major corridors, and long stretches where you can drive with fewer interruptions. These moments let you observe how traffic patterns shift with seasons, where patrol presence is common, and where significant urban centers anchor the drive for quick refuels and rest breaks.

Beyond the United States, the Pan‑American Highway spans about 19,000 miles across North, Central, and South America. It isn’t a single road but a linked network that forms the longest drivable path when you connect the dots through Canada, the United States, Mexico, Central America, and into South American countries. Through this route you encounter deserts, high mountains, rain forests, and coastlines that reveal the most dramatic climate shifts and scenery you’ll ever drive through. It’s a route that invites you to plan for ferries, border checks, and varying fuel availability while chasing wonders from city to city.

Coolest roadside experiences show up along these long hauls. Expect stories of shipwrecks recalled in coastal towns, quirky monuments, and unique town squares where you can walk past centuries‑old buildings and modern storefronts. These moments often become the most memorable, giving you a human scale to a vast journey and a sense of how American vehicles and driving culture have evolved since the wwii era, when patrol routes and road networks grew to support moving people and supplies across the continent.

When you map a trip around these routes, you’ll want a practical order: pick a primary backbone (20, 90, or Pan‑American segments), then add short side trips to parks, town centers, and hidden overlooks. They give you a balanced mix of traffic patterns, price checks at unleaded pumps, and opportunities to compare how different areas treat driving, cars, and amenities. If you’re chasing the coolest stories, a few well‑timed stops can turn a long drive into a sequence of unforgettable wonders, from small‑town diners to major city museums–the kind of experiences that make a road trip feel truly American, a collection of moments you’ll tell friends about long after you return home.

EliaS and other travel writers rank these routes among the most iconic for road buffs because they show how distance, terrain, and culture intertwine. They’re not just miles; they’re a chance to see the United States–and parts of Canada, Mexico, and beyond–through the windshield, while keeping an eye on fuel prices, traffic, and the countless stories that emerge when people are looking out for the next turn, the next park, or the next town where new adventures begin. These routes prove that longer drives aren’t about the worst boredom but about the richest opportunities to discover America’s landscapes and legends, one push of the pedal at a time.

Trip-planning tips for long interstates: splitting trips, timing, and safety considerations

Split long interstate trips into two to three driving blocks per day and book overnight stays near the midpoint. Aim for 5–6 hours of driving per day, with a 15–20 minute break every 2.5 hours to stretch, hydrate, and check traffic and weather on the road displays. Fuel up with unleaded gasoline at major stations; keep a simple log of miles to estimate next refuel stops and plan rest areas in advance. These practical steps reduce fatigue, curb irritability, and help you arrive rested at the most interesting places along the route.

Timing matters more than you think. Start before dawn to beat the worst traffic on busy corridors, then target 4–6 hour driving windows before a major lunch stop. Use live displays from mapping apps to switch to less congested lanes; check the news for closures and weather alerts that can alter your plan. For long hauls across the united states, most routes connect several states, so map a few options and keep a flexible schedule.

Safety comes first: never drive past fatigue; use rest areas or service plazas every 2.5 hours and rotate drivers if you have a partner. Keep a steady speed within posted limits and take a longer stop if weather or road conditions worsen. Wear seat belts, check tires, fluids, and oil, and keep a charged phone in a secure holder. Hidden construction zones and detours can appear without warning, so follow posted signs and respect temporary speed limits.

Make the most of every break by visiting historic gems along the way. These stops may be located near coastlines, river towns, or historic towns with shipwrecks museums, galleries, and displays that illustrate local history. Ask locals where to find these wonders and chat with people who started small family businesses–a great way to learn about the area. If you’re near a place like Disneyland at the start or end of a trip, it can be a must-do diversion for kids and adults alike.

Fuel planning should consider vehicle mix and gasoline options. If you have multiple vehicles, map fuel stops that keep everyone together and avoid long gaps without a station. Choose clean, well-lit stations offering unleaded options, restrooms, and safe parking. Track prices and consider loyalty programs to save on next fills; many drivers compare prices at displays on major apps and choose the most convenient stop.

Family pacing includes a must-do balance of driving and activity. These shorter breaks keep energy up and reduce crankiness. Look for kid-friendly spots; such as science centers, zoos, or hidden murals. People share tips in a gallery and in local bulletins; elias started a route notebook to track what worked and what to avoid on future trips.

About next trips, keep a simple gallery of notes and photos from each route; these displays help the crew decide the next must-do stop and what to skip. By planning around most predictable patterns–morning starts, midafternoon breaks, and safe parking–you maintain steady progress without burning out.