Thanks largely to President Barack Obama’s recession stimulus package, the percentage of all state highways with good ride quality (instead of fair or poor) increased from 36 percent in 2007 before the recession to 43 percent this year, according to state data provided to The Salt Lake Tribune.
The data also show which roads now have the best and worst pavement in the state. The best currently is a rural stretch of I-15 south of Beaver. The worst is a section of I-15 in south Provo that is being replaced as part of the massive project to rebuild the freeway there. The stimulus directed an extra $214 million to 126 “shovel-ready” projects on state highways to create jobs. It came about the same time as other long-in-the-works federal and state projects to rebuild stretches of I-15 (in Utah, Salt Lake and Davis counties), I-80 (in Sugar House), and SR-201 (in Salt Lake County). Salt Lake Tribune
