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The Best & Worst Places To Drive in America

CBS Detroit - Americans take as much as 87% of their daily trips around town in personal vehicles says a study from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics. The motor city is no exception, but with COVID-19 causing fear of using public transportation, more people have chosen to take their own vehicles instead of the bus. In fact, 20% of those who don't own a car are now considering purchasing one.

All this time on the road doing errands, commuting to work, or going up north to get away from it all adds up. On average we spend 310 hours on the road every year. For the average Joe, that adds up to about two and half years of driving over a lifetime. Ralph Waldo Emerson once wrote "Life is a Journey, not a destination", and when it comes to driving the road you take determines how enjoyable that journey is. The website WalletHub ranked roads in different cities across the country.

As you can guess Michigan hasn't ranked very high in the list, as road conditions from annual frost and freeze cycles add to make for big potholes and long construction delays in what seems like an endless cycle. In a 2018 article by Crain's Detroit Business, Michigan spends $154 per capita on road repairs, meanwhile, Pennsylvania spends $530 per person. The poor road conditions here make for metro Detroiters spending on average $865 per year in car repairs. The national average for car repairs for road conditions is $377.

The recent rankings by WalletHub rate the driving quality based in different cities based on road quality, average gas prices, annual hours in traffic congestion, and auto repair shops per capita. The break down below from best to worst shows each city's score on: Cost of ownership & Maintenance, Traffic & Infrastructure, Safety, and access to vehicles & maintenance facilities.

The best places to drive include Lincoln, NE, Raleigh NC, Corpus Christi TX, Greensboro NC, Boise ID, Plano TX, Winston-Salem NC, Nashville TN, Orlando FL, and Omaha NE. Rounding out the bottom 10 of the 100 cities for the worst drives in America is, Stockton CA, Seattle WA, Newark NJ, San Bernadino CA, Chicago IL, Los Angeles CA, New York NY, Detroit MI, San Francisco CA, Philadelpia PA, and Oakland CA.

 

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Credit: Data from WalletHub.com

© 2020 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Information from WalletHub contributed to this report.

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