It's that fun, post-winter time in Rockford when you begin to wonder when, not if, you'll knock your car out of alignment hitting a pothole.

A non-profit transportation research organization called TRIP recently released a report called Illinois Transportation by the Numbers: Meeting the State's Needs for Safe, Smooth, and Efficient Mobility, in which they crunch the numbers when it comes to:

  • Deficient roads
  • Bridge conditions
  • Road congestion
  • Traffic Safety
  • Fatalities

Their results consist of numbers from all over our state, but I've cherry-picked some Rockford-centric facts and figures for you. Driving on Illinois roads that are deteriorated, congested and that lack some desirable safety features costs Illinois drivers a total of $16.4 billion each year. TRIP has calculated the cost to the average motorist in the state’s largest urban areas in the form of additional vehicle operating costs (VOC) as a result of driving on rough roads, the cost of lost time and wasted fuel due to congestion and the financial cost of traffic crashes.

  • Per-year cost to the average Rockford driver: $1,935
  • Percentage of Rockford roads that are in poor condition: 32
  • Percentage of Rockford roads that are in mediocre condition: 29
  • Percentage of Rockford roads that are in fair condition: 15
  • Percentage of Rockford roads that are in good condition: 25
  • Percentage of state-maintained bridges in and around Rockford: 377
  • Number of state-maintained bridges in and around Rockford that are "structurally deficient: 29
  • Average hours per year that Rockford drivers lose to congestion: 24
  • Average cost of congestion each year to Rockford drivers: $573
  • Average fatalities to Rockford drivers (in which roadway features were likely a contributing factor) from 2014-2016: 35
  • Vehicle operating costs (VOC) per Rockford motorist as a result of driving on deteriorated roads: $639

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