美国每个州的道路都非常糟糕吗？为什么会这样？
Are the roads in each state of the USA in very bad shape? If so, why is this? Has this really only been the case for the past 15 years or so? What caused local governments to stop repaving the roads?
译文简介
美国每个州的道路都状况很差吗？如果是这样，为什么会这样？这种情况真的只持续了大约过去15年吗？是什么导致地方政府停止重新铺设道路的？
正文翻译
Mark Paris
Roadwork has long been seen as a way to transfer state funds to large paving businesses rather than as a way to provide good roads. Also, the work goes to the lowest bidder, which incentivizes poor quality work. Some states are definitely worse than others. Georgia, where roadwork is not particularly good, often has roads of noticeably better quality than its neighbor Alabama. Around 10 years ago, Interstate 40 in Oklahoma, a major east-west route, was almost undrivable in places. Good roads are just not prioritized in the US, and US drivers are so used to it, and have had no opportunity to drive better roads, so that it is accepted as normal.
长期以来，道路施工被视为一种将州政府资金转移给大型铺设企业的方式，而不是提供优质道路的手段。另外，工程通常会交给报价最低的承包商，这激励了低质量的工作。一些州的道路状况确实比其他州糟糕。例如，乔治亚州的道路施工并不是特别好，但它的道路质量通常要明显好于邻近的阿拉巴马州。大约10年前，俄克拉何马州的40号州际公路，一个重要的东西向交通线路，在某些地方几乎无法驾驶。在美国，优质道路并不是优先考虑的问题，而且美国的司机们已经习惯了这种情况，也没有机会体验过更好的道路，所以这被认为是正常现象。
Roadwork has long been seen as a way to transfer state funds to large paving businesses rather than as a way to provide good roads. Also, the work goes to the lowest bidder, which incentivizes poor quality work. Some states are definitely worse than others. Georgia, where roadwork is not particularly good, often has roads of noticeably better quality than its neighbor Alabama. Around 10 years ago, Interstate 40 in Oklahoma, a major east-west route, was almost undrivable in places. Good roads are just not prioritized in the US, and US drivers are so used to it, and have had no opportunity to drive better roads, so that it is accepted as normal.
长期以来，道路施工被视为一种将州政府资金转移给大型铺设企业的方式，而不是提供优质道路的手段。另外，工程通常会交给报价最低的承包商，这激励了低质量的工作。一些州的道路状况确实比其他州糟糕。例如，乔治亚州的道路施工并不是特别好，但它的道路质量通常要明显好于邻近的阿拉巴马州。大约10年前，俄克拉何马州的40号州际公路，一个重要的东西向交通线路，在某些地方几乎无法驾驶。在美国，优质道路并不是优先考虑的问题，而且美国的司机们已经习惯了这种情况，也没有机会体验过更好的道路，所以这被认为是正常现象。
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Are the roads in each state of the USA in very bad shape?
It seems to me to be a northeastern thing, possibly urban only, possibly blue state only. (But tough to isolate those because they’re highly correlated.)
美国每个州的道路都状况很差吗？
无论如何，美国各州的道路并不处于非常糟糕的状态。我得假设这样的州存在；但我同样倾向于说，你听到的一切都是宣传（无论是被公用事业集团、政治家，还是很可能是两者推动的）。
我至少在加利福尼亚、犹他州、阿肯色州和得克萨斯州生活过；这也意味着我在连接这些州的地方度过了很多时间，我从未生活在一个人们抱怨道路状况的地方。我从未生活在一个“基础设施”是一个成功的政治论点的地方。
也许宾夕法尼亚州的道路真的更糟糕。也许他们在道路上的投入较少，或者他们对道路有更高的期望。或许他们的资金来源方式也不同。我唯一知道的是我从来没有见过一个"不安全的桥梁"。道路上反光标记的亮度在各个州之间差异很大，但这可能只是反映了天气极端情况的强度不同。
关于"也许他们只是期望更高"这一点，我目前住在得克萨斯州。当我们的世界在2021年2月冻结时，我当然看到东北部的人们对政治机会主义垂涎三尺，急于坚称德克萨斯人愤怒，并即将弹劾州长，因为他们的电力瘫痪了。但在得克萨斯州几乎没有这种情绪。选民们强烈反对不断接近完美无限边际成本的趋势，也就是说，他们宁愿每年停电几个小时，也不愿提高税收并建立新的伪政府低效和腐败的层面来防止停电。我们可以以更低的成本购买发电机，而我们选择不这样做，说明了很多问题。
无论如何，美国各州的道路并不处于非常糟糕的状态。我得假设这样的州存在；但我同样倾向于说，你听到的一切都是宣传（无论是被公共事业集团、政治家，还是很可能是两者共同推动的）。
When I was getting my civil engineering degree in 1985, we were already talking about the crisis in unmaintained bridges in the us interstate system. Except for a few job creation bills here and there, I haven’t seen a huge upsurge in maintenance of the infrastructure since then.
If you ignore your infrastructure long enough, it will go away.
当我在1985年获得土木工程学位时，我们已经在谈论美国州际公路系统中未维护的桥梁危机。除了偶尔出台一些创造就业机会的法案外，自那以后我没有看到基础设施维护出现巨大增长。 如果你足够长时间忽视基础设施，它将消失。
Paving isn’t really the problem. Yes, some places skimp, but in other places the pavements are kept in very good shape. It’s more a matter of city and state finances than general neglect.
The U.S. Interstate System, even if you might see some cracked pavement here and there, is generally well paved and capable of handling a lot of high speed traffic. It’s easily the largest single limited access highway network on the planet. Even Europe as a whole can’t really compare with it.
So the problem isn’t paving, it’s other infrastructure, most specifically, bridges.
You may have heard of a recent collapse on a section of 1–95 in Pennsylvania., near Philadelphia.
铺设并不是真正的问题。是的，有些地方可能会节省成本，但在其他地方，铺设情况非常良好。这更多是一个城市和州财政问题，而不是一般性的忽视。
美国州际公路系统，即使你可能会看到一些路面开裂的情况，总体上都铺设得很好，能够承受大量的高速交通。它毫无疑问是全球最大的单一有限通行公路网络。甚至整个欧洲也难以与之相比。
因此，问题不在于铺设，而在于其他基础设施，尤其是桥梁。
你可能听说过宾夕法尼亚州95号洲际公路（1-95）的一段最近坍塌事件，靠近费城。
原创翻译：龙腾网 http://www.ltaaa.cn 转载请注明出处
Note that, apart from that giant hole, the pavement is in pretty good shape, even on the feeder roads nearby. However, this sort of collapse is fairly common in the United States. Since no-one keeps accurate records of such things, analysist have to extrapolate data and their numbers show that a bridge collapses in the United States about once every two days.
The United States is well aware of this problem. Surveys show there’s something like 47,000 bridges that are “structurally deficient”, which doesn’t mean “imminent collapse”, only that they should be replaced. They carry about 175 million vehicles a day.
请注意，除了那个巨大的洞，附近的进出道路的路面状态相当良好。然而，在美国，这种类型的坍塌相当常见。由于没有人保持准确的记录，分析师不得不推断数据，他们的数据显示，美国每两天左右就会发生一次桥梁坍塌事件。
美国非常清楚这个问题。调查显示，大约有47,000座桥梁存在“结构不足”的问题，这并不意味着“即将坍塌”，只是需要更换。它们每天承载大约1.75亿辆车辆。
Luckily, most bridge failures aren’t fatal - the bridge simply becomes unusable.
这个问题可以追溯到上世纪50年代美国州际公路系统的初始扩展。优先考虑了开通关键的高速公路，这意味着桥梁被设计为寿命相当短暂。当时认为在大约三十年内会有资金来替换这些寿命更长的更好的桥梁。然而，不幸的是，到了上世纪80年代，这些桥梁已经接近使用寿命的尽头，政府决定为这些项目提供资金成本太高，因此替换资金大幅削减。因此，美国许多交通都要经过已经快70年的桥梁，这些桥梁的寿命已经超过了40年。
幸运的是，大多数桥梁的失效并不会导致人员伤亡，桥梁只是变得无法使用。
Collapse of the Fern Hollow bridge in Pittsburgh, which has more bridges than any other city in the United States. This 1960s era bridge was neglected and its steel supports corroded, largely due to the road salt used to keep the bridge open in winter. Luckily, only minor injuries on the bus that was on the bridge when it collapsed.
匹兹堡费恩霍洛桥坍塌事件，匹兹堡是美国拥有最多桥梁的城市之一。这座建于1960年代的桥梁被忽视了，它的钢支撑因为冬季使用的防滑盐腐蚀严重。幸运的是，在桥梁坍塌时上面的巴士上只有轻微的受伤。
The Pennsylvania I-95 bridge collapsed due to a tanker truck catching fire underneath it, but initial repairs were completed within two weeks (allowing the roadway to be reopened). There are troubled bridges in the US, but that collapse was not an example of one.
宾夕法尼亚州I-95号公路桥坍塌是由于一辆油罐卡车在桥底起火引起的，但最初的维修在两周内完成（使道路得以重新开放）。美国确实有一些有问题的桥梁，但那次坍塌并不是一个例子。
The water system is like this in most places too. It's an average of 100 years old in many cases and cities and states don't have the money to fix it, so they do their best to mitigate emergencies and if they can keep up with that, they deal with massive complaints from citizens when they try to upgrade stuff that hasn't failed yet. Sometimes these issues compound and you get a water failure that destroys a highway. People see this all the time but they still don't want to pay for it.
在大多数地方水系统也是如此。在许多情况下，水系统平均已有100年历史，城市和州没有足够的资金来修复它，因此他们尽力减轻紧急情况，如果他们能够跟上这些问题，他们在尝试升级尚未发生故障的设施时，会面临来自市民的大量投诉。有时这些问题会累积，导致水系统故障破坏公路。人们经常看到这种情况，但他们仍然不愿为此付费。
原创翻译：龙腾网 http://www.ltaaa.cn 转载请注明出处
About 12% of bridges are structurally deficient. The highest proportion are rural and local bridges. As a group, interstates have the lowest proportion of structurally deficient bridges. Ohio, the center of the rust belt, has excellent interstate highways. Local roads, depending upon the communities/counties or another story.
大约12%的桥梁存在结构性不足问题。其中比例最高的是乡村和地方桥梁。作为整体，州际公路的结构性不足桥梁比例最低。俄亥俄州，是铁锈地带的中心，拥有出色的州际公路系统。而地方道路则取决于各个社区和县的情况，情况不一。
I live in Pittsburgh, I have driven over that bridge many, many times.
The reality is that the bridge was neglected BY THE CITY OF PITTSBURGH who owns it. Reports of major structural issues have been uncovered going years back. To say that the steel supports were “corroded” is an understatement. Some of them had completely disconnected from the support below.
我住在匹兹堡，我开车经过那座桥很多次。实际情况是，这座桥被匹兹堡市疏于维护，而这座桥是他们所有的。多年来，有关重大结构问题的报告一直存在。说钢支撑“受腐蚀”是轻描淡写了。其中一些支撑已经完全与下方的支撑物分离开来。
But hey, he was rewarded for those misguided policies because as soon as that bridge fell, our president was standing in front of it and handing out “federal money” to replace a bridge that was not federal, state or county responsibility. So if you were mayor, why would you spend when you know the feds will bail out your bad decisions?
And it is lucky that no one was killed.
但是这个城市有其他的优先事项，比如封闭道路上的行车道，将它们改建成自行车道。用于道路和桥梁维护的资金被用于市长认为更高能见度、因此优先级更高的其他事项上。但嘿，他因为这些误导性政策而受到奖励，因为这座桥倒塌后，我们的总统站在桥前，分发“联邦资金”来更换一座既不是联邦、州也不是县份责任的桥梁。所以，如果你是市长，当你知道联邦政府会挽救你的错误决策时，你为什么还要花钱呢？
而且很幸运没有人死亡。
原创翻译：龙腾网 http://www.ltaaa.cn 转载请注明出处
I’m in Nevada and I think the roads are great compared to other states…right when I drive past the border to California there is obvious difference…probably cause Nevada is new growth so new roads are constantly being built
我在内华达州，与其他州相比，我认为这里的道路非常好……当我驾车经过边界到加利福尼亚州时，明显感觉到了差别……可能是因为内华达州正在快速发展，所以新的道路不断被建设。
The bridge in Pittsburgh was known to be unsafe-indeed, it was obviously compromised byveven a cursory look underneath and should have been closed. The money raised for infrastructure went for bike trails nobody uses
匹兹堡的那座桥已经被知晓不安全，事实上，即使是粗略地从底下看一眼，它显然已经受损，本应该关闭。为基础设施筹集的资金被用于几乎没人使用的自行车道上。
I remember driving across the Old Tappan Zee Bridge in New York about 10 years or so after its engineered lifespan had come and gone. I wasn't real fond of doing that.
我记得大约在塔潘泽大桥（纽约）的设计寿命结束了大约10年左右的时候，我开车通过。我对那样做并不是很喜欢。
I got across the 35W bridge in Minneapolis about two minutes before it collapsed. Since then bridge safety has been of significant concern to me.
我在明尼阿波利斯的35W桥倒塌前大约两分钟刚刚通过。从那时起，桥梁的安全对我来说成为了一个重要的关注点。
The roads are in bad shpe in some areas because we allowed the Federal governement to take state taxpayer dollars and then decide how and with what rules they would redistribute the money back to the states to build the roads. End the US Dept of Transportation.
一些地区的道路状况不佳，因为我们允许联邦政府拿走州纳税人的钱，然后决定如何以及用什么规则将钱重新分配回各州建设道路。取消美国交通部吧。
In my experience the road surfaces in Texas and North Carolina are for the most part in a very bad shape, even when new or just repaired, interstates or not. They have lots of depressions, cracks and potholes. Compared to road surfaces in most Western European countries it looks like the third world quality pavement here in US. Even Croatian toll roads are consistently better than the American interstates.
根据我的经验，得克萨斯州和北卡罗来纳州的道路表面大部分都非常糟糕，即使是新的或刚刚修复过的，无论是州际公路还是其他道路。它们有许多凹陷、裂缝和坑洞。与大多数西欧国家的道路表面相比，美国的道路表面看起来就像第三世界国家的质量。甚至克罗地亚的收费公路也一直比美国的州际公路更好。
A few years back in Colorado an entire family was wiped out when a concrete slab from a bridge flattened them when it failed and fell off the bottom of the bridge crushing their car below as they were returning from vacation. The grand parents were the only ones left of a family of 4–6. They were furious as money for infrastructure went to fight two wars in the Middle East at the time. Who could blame them. They were right!
几年前，在科罗拉多州，一整个家庭在桥梁倒塌并从桥底掉落、压垮了他们的汽车时被彻底摧毁，他们正在从度假回来。家庭中的4-6人只剩下祖父母。当时，用于基础设施的资金用于中东的两场战争，他们非常愤怒。谁能责怪他们。他们是对的！
The social expenditures of the welfare state squeezes out” the spending which is vitally needed for the upkeep of America´s real capital. That is just one concrete example of how the welfare state destroys the citizens´ welfare.
福利国家的社会支出挤占了美国真实资本的维护所需的支出。这只是福利国家如何摧毁公民福祉的一个具体例子。
Roads have different sources of funding. If it is an interstate highway it gets paid with Federal dollars or tolls. If it is a local road , like the one that collapsed in Pittsburgh, it is paid for out of state or local sources.
To answer your question roads really very from state to state. Best roads I have seen are in Wyoming worst were in the Midwest states.
道路有不同的资金来源。如果是州际公路，将使用联邦资金或收费。如果是像匹兹堡那座倒塌的本地道路，资金来自州或地方来源。回答你的问题，道路的状况因州而异。我见过的最好的道路在怀俄明州，最糟糕的是在中西部的州。
It varies from state to state, and from time to time.
California’s roads are generally in bad shape because they were designed and built for less traffic than they are required to carry. For some reason our state government has been unwilling to plan for future growth, with is remarkable when you consider that for 170 years in succession the population of the state -and, naturally, the usage of the roads has increased. Only in the last two or three years has the population leveled off, giving them a chance to catch up. Then we had an exceptionally severe winter this year (20222–2023) which resulted in a lot of damage to the pavement.
Repaving of roads goes on continuously in California, however.
情况因州而异，也会因时间而异。
加利福尼亚的道路普遍状况不佳，因为它们的设计和建设是为比实际承载能力要小的交通而进行的。由于某种原因，我们的州政府不愿意为未来的增长制定计划，考虑到连续170年来，该州的人口-以及自然地，道路的使用量都在增加，这是令人惊讶的。只有在过去的两三年里，人口才趋于稳定，给他们一个赶上的机会。然后，今年（2022-2023）我们遭遇了异常严重的冬季，导致道路的很多损坏。然而，加州的道路铺设工作在不断进行中。
I was shocked to see the deterioration of residential streets where I grew up when viewing Google Maps. The cause may be two fold. First is that rough pavement reduces speeding through residential neighborhoods, secondly, voters determine local government taxes and priorities.
当我在查看谷歌地图时，看到我成长的居住街道的状况恶化，我感到震惊。造成这种情况可能有两个原因。首先，粗糙的道路会减缓通过住宅区的车速，其次，选民决定了地方政府的税收和优先事项。
A portion of the problem is inflation. Road taxes are calculated on miles traveled and as a fixed rate be gallon of gas. The $0.15 gallon of gas and $0.10 tax worked fine when we got 15 miles per gallon, and 2/3 of a cent per mile to keep up the roads.
But with gas at $4.00 per gallon, and cars getting 40+ mpg, we are getting no value - 1/4 of a cent per mile at an inflation rate of 300% or more says we have the equivalent funds of about 1/500 of the funds for road building as we had in the 1960s.
Then deduct the number of electric cars that do not pay gasoline taxes nor local road use taxes - they wear out the roads but pay nothing to maintain them!
问题的一部分是通货膨胀。道路税是根据行驶的英里数计算的，以每加仑的固定税率计算。当我们的汽车每加仑行驶15英里，每英里2/3分的税款足以维护道路时，每加仑15美分和每加仑10美分的税款效果很好。
但是，当汽油价格为4.00美元/加仑，汽车的平均油耗超过40英里/加仑时，我们得到的价值很低-以每英里1/4分的通货膨胀率超过300%的速度来计算，意味着我们的资金相当于20世纪60年代道路建设资金的1/500。然后扣除不支付汽油税和地方道路使用税的电动汽车的数量-它们磨损了道路，但不支付维护费用！
Local governments got used to federal dollars doing the job. They loved it when the roads were being built with dollar coming in from DC. But DC never stopped taking dollars and did expect that states to take over maintenance.
Now, real world, pavement alone isn’t a big deal. But bridges, those are expensive, and the states were expected to maintain and eventually replace these bridges as they wore out.
But there was a caveat. The feds would step in if there was an emergency.
地方政府已经习惯了依赖联邦资金来完成工作。当公路建设使用来自华盛顿的资金时，他们非常高兴。但华盛顿从未停止向各州征收资金，并希望各州承担起维护的责任。
现在，就实际情况而言，仅仅是铺设道路并不是一个大问题。但是桥梁不同，它们需要花费很多钱，各州被期望着对这些老化的桥梁进行维护和最终更换。
但有一个例外条件，即如果发生紧急情况，联邦政府将会介入。
You ever see those stupid comparison about how red states are a drag on the economy? What is really going is that red states are smart enough to milk the cow since the feds make the rules.
明白了吗？各州因为忽视道路维护而获得了联邦资金的奖励。所以各州开始忽视桥梁的维护，以便联邦政府介入并对这些桥梁进行维修或重建。因此，逐渐地，每个州都开始忽视道路的维护，违背了它们本应履行的职责：如果不这样做，它们将被有效地处罚，不再获得联邦资金但仍然被征税。
你有没有看到那些关于红色州对经济的拖累的愚蠢比较？其实事实是，红色州足够聪明，能够从联邦政府的规定中利益最大化。
Somebody has to pay for those tax cuts which have been handed out like candy to the rich and the super-rich; and one of the ways to pay for them is cutting back on maintaining the infrastructure of the country.
必须有人来支付那些像糖果一样送给富人和超级富豪的减税措施的代价；而其中一种支付方式就是削减对国家基础设施的维护。
There are a few different issues at play. Some of it has to do with corruption in government and a lot has to do with some very troubling problems with the social culture of the US.
One thing about it is that local governments in the US are often willing to spend lots of money on new projects, but are much more reluctant to spend money on maintaining the infrastructure that they have already built. This is why we see so many beautifully constructed new bridges and roadways, yet some of the decades-old bridges, roadways, and particularly dams are literally disintegrating as a result of severe neglect.
这涉及几个不同的问题。其中一部分与政府腐败有关，而另一部分则与美国社会文化中的一些非常令人担忧的问题有关。 其中一个问题是，美国的地方政府通常愿意在新项目上花费大量资金，但在维护已经建成的基础设施上却更加不情愿。这就是为什么我们看到有那么多精美建设的新桥梁和道路，然而一些几十年历史的桥梁、道路，特别是水坝由于严重的忽视而在逐渐瓦解。
关于重新铺设道路，说政府停止重新铺设道路是完全错误的（除非在极度贫困的社区）。但政府通常在道路严重破损之前很慢才分配资金进行重新铺设，有时他们只分配足够的资金让道路勉强可行驶。
你必须理解，美国人传统上非常抗税，这确实会导致资金短缺。更糟糕的是，这种抗税心态实际上有时会鼓励腐败。例如：税款被征收。公众反对进行必要的修缮支出。因此，这些资金最终会被不当地用来填满政治家及其支持者的口袋。
还有一点需要记住。与欧洲相比，美国的城市设计非常低效。这意味着普通美国人的驾驶距离要比普通欧洲人长得多。此外，当然，美国比欧洲大得多，这意味着货运距离要长得多。所有这些都增加了建设和维护道路的成本。然而，当然，任何理智的政府都应该承诺维护基础设施，而任何成熟的选民群体都应该接受他们必须愿意承担这个成本。
关于你关于过去15年的问题，不，这不是在15年前突然开始的。你需要了解的是，美国在20世纪20年代开始的建设繁荣持续到了20世纪60年代。当我说建设繁荣时，我不仅指房屋。我指的是在20世纪中期建造了许多关键基础设施（桥梁、水坝、道路）。在20世纪70年代，由于经济困境，维护支出减缓。然后在20世纪80年代，所谓的保守主义革命导致认为政治家不需要听从专家管理国家的意见，这导致资金没有花在应该花的地方。因此...如果在70年代和80年代许多基础设施没有得到足够的维护，那么你会预计它们会在2000年代开始破败。