BUFFALO, N.Y. — If you’ve ever gotten a flat tire after hitting a pothole, you have an idea of the cost of bad or unrepaired roads.
But a D.C. non-profit says it has done the math on the extra costs for Buffalo-Niagara Falls area motorists because of bad and unrepaired roads.
TRIP, which describes itself as a transportation research non-profit, says it used data from the Census Bureau, the Highway Transportation Safety Administration and other sources to come with an annual added cost to each driver.
Are you sitting down?
TRIP says every driver pays $1,765 extra, and it’s not just because of vehicle wear and tear.
“It’s also the value of lost time and wasted fuel due to delays caused by traffic congestion and the cost of serious and fatal traffic crashes where the lack of adequate roadway safety features were a contributing factor,” said Rocky Moretti, director of policy and resources at TRIP.
The TRIP study also found 38 percent of Buffalo-area roads maintained by state and local governments were in either mediocre or poor condition.
Moretti says all levels of government need to find money within their budgets for repairs to roads and bridges.
This as a major source of road repair funding is winding down. The federal Surface Transportation Act, which annually funds some $60-billion worth of projects, is set to expire next September.
