The U.S. has the world's largest road network, but how does it rank in quality?
Roads in the U.S. received a D+ from the American Society of Engineer's 2025 Infrastructure Report Card. How do our roads compare globally?
Roads in the U.S. received a D+ from the American Society of Engineer's 2025 Infrastructure Report Card. How do our roads compare globally?
Roads in the U.S. received a D+ from the American Society of Engineer's 2025 Infrastructure Report Card. How do our roads compare globally?
With over 4 million miles of roadway, the United States dominates as the world's largest road network.
When measuring against the road quality and safety in other countries, the U.S. doesn't stay at the top spot.
In 2019, the World Economic Forum published a survey of business leaders' opinions on road quality in their countries and the results landed the U.S. at 11th place.
However, this survey was based on opinions. For a closer comparison, we can look at a country's International Roughness Index, or IRI, which is the standardized measure for road surface roughness commonly used by highway professionals around the world.
The IRI measures the vertical movement of a vehicle on a selected area of road. The better the road condition, the more stabilized and less vertical movement the vehicle will endure on the road, making the IRI low.
In the U.S., a "good" IRI is less than 95 inches per mile, a "fair" IRI is between 95 and 170 inches per mile and a "poor" IRI is greater than 170 inches per mile.
Not all countries easily provide their IRI data or even calculate the IRI the same.
Brian Potter, a senior infrastructure fellow at Institute for Progress and author of Construction Physics newsletter, found four other countries with comparable IRI data: Netherlands; Ontario, Canada; Ireland; and the United Kingdom.
Based on his results, he found that the U.S. actually holds up in terms of road quality.
However, when you single out non-interstate roads, the U.S. quality falters.
Potter found that 90 percent of Dutch national roads are considered "good" by U.S. IRI standards, in contrast to only 40 percent among U.S. non-interstate roads.
Does the U.S. have the world's safest roads?
When it comes to road safety, the U.S. ranking falls to the middle.
In 2023, the U.S. death rate was around 13 for every 100,000 people, according to the World Health Organization. This metric is a stark contrast to places like Norway, the United Kingdom and Japan, where the rate was below 3 per 100,000 people.
Veronique Feypell, a road safety expert at the International Transport Forum, analyzes road safety data for countries around the world and publishes an annual report benchmarking road safety performance for 35 countries.
Feypell found Norway and Sweden have invested "massively" in safer infrastructure such as adopting "two-plus-one" roads in rural areas.
With that system, two lanes go in one direction and one lane in the opposite. The middle lane acts as a passing lane for either direction. To reduce head-on collisions, a median-barrier is placed in between.
Feypell also said roundabouts are very effective in reducing speed at intersections and reducing the occurrence and severity of crashes.
Narrower lanes are also found to reduce speeding. In Europe, the minimum standard is seven to eight feet wide. In the U.S., the minimum lane width is 12 feet for high-speed roadways.
According to a 2023 study by Johns Hopkins University, roads with 10- to 12-foot lanes at 30 to 35 mph speed limits have a significantly higher number of crashes compared to those with 9-foot lanes.
While making changes at the national level may take time, Feypell said people can make changes at the local level. Cities like New York and Washington, D.C. have already adopted a "Zero Vision" policy, that prioritizes minimizing traffic injuries or deaths to zero.
Part of increasing the quality of U.S. roads includes an increase in funding. In 2018, the Federal Highway Administration estimated $1.1 trillion was needed to address a backlog of highway and bridge investments over the course of 20 years.