PORTLAND (WGME) — Maine’s roads are costing drivers more than $1,000 a year on average, according to TRIP, a transportation research institute.
That report, tracking federal and state DOT data, found the average cost of repairs on a vehicle in the Portland area because of rough roads is about $1,500 a year.
The report found Mainers as a whole spend about $1.6 billion a year as a result of deteriorating roads and bridges.
“These bridges are absolutely vital to the function of our transportation system and as they age, the repairs that are necessary to keep them open become more costly, so it’s critical that the state have the resources available to move forward with those conditions,” TRIP Director of Policy and Research Rocky Moretti said.
The TRIP report also finds 18 percent of major locally and state-maintained roads in the greater Portland area are in poor condition and 33 percent are in fair condition. That’s more than half of all the roads considered poor or fair.
TRIP says recent investments will help bring those numbers down.
