When it comes to highway upkeep, no state in the nation received the kudos from Overdrive readers this year quite like Florida. The Highway Report Card released in late October made reader appreciation abundantly clear, with the state garnering 15% of the overall vote for Best Roads. The next biggest vote-getters -- Texas and Ohio, at 11% and 10% respectively -- weren't all that far behind, yet consider the rest of the list was a series of multistate ties, Nevada and Kansas at 5%, another two states at 4% and six others at 3%.
According to one of Overdrive's survey respondents who chose Florida for Best Roads, "Florida is outstanding in every category, including rest area availability, electronic signs to indicate parking availability, parking in weigh stations and outstanding smooth road conditions," well-maintained.
Readers can download the full Truckers' 2025 Highway Report Card via this link or the form at the bottom of this story.
Survey respondents singled out the state's portion of I-75, I-95 and I-10 for best overall route in the nation, all three ranking in the top 10.
What are Florida and other high performers doing right? We put the question to several, with responses coming from four. A lot of the answer boils down to the simple directive in the headline of this story -- Fix those potholes already! -- yet details, particularly in the No. 1 state, might help point the way forward for government/private-sector collaboration.
From the Highway Report Card, the states most lauded by trucker respondents to Overdrive's survey.
No. 1 for 'Best Roads': Florida
Rudy Powell, Chief Engineer of Operations for the Florida Department of Transportation, said this week that "we're very proud of those rankings." Any positive press is good, sure, but "we're not surprised by the ranking," he added.
Results might be explained in part by state law, which mandates the Florida DOT's priorities are in the right place. By statute, FDOT must "prioritize preservation and maintenance" of roadways there "before we add capacity," Powell said.
That is, plan to keep the roads in the condition they're designed for ahead of the drive to the kinds of ribbon-cutting ceremonies big new projects deliver.
A large majority of state-maintained roadways are at or above state standards today, Powell said, and FDOT takes advantage of its unique situation among states. It's an unfair advantage in some ways, given Florida weather makes road construction season a year-round affair, unlike almost every other state in the nation.
"All states face a unique-to-their-state set of challenges," Powell noted. "We are very fortunate with climate and geography, and we take advantage of that," paving year-round. Warmer temps and very few freeze-thaw cycles mean generally less deterioration with cracking.
The large size of the state enables "unique specifications," too, for materials, likewise circumstances around their availability. Abundant lime rock sourced locally, Powell added, makes for a great base for pavements to enable "a lot thinner pavements than other states." Pavement preservation is simplified to the process of milling and resurfacing -- without more involved, time-consuming methods of road repair.
Plenty in the way of new capacity, nonetheless, is on the way, with the $4B worth in funding provided by the state's legislature and governor in 2023 with the Moving Florida Forward Infrastructure Initiative. It prioritizes "20 key projects in the fastest growing areas in the state," Powell said, to address "congestion and improve safety and resiliency, enhance the supply chain and deliver economic growth."
The Moving Florida Forward project map detailing some of the congestion-relief efforts, including improvements to interstate lanes and interchanges, state roads and more.
What might other states learn from Florida when it comes to highway upkeep? Powell won't speak for all other states, he said, but the statutory preservation requirement is one he's mentioned at conferences of road-building pros through the years, asking others about their own states' laws. "Not a lot of states raise their hands on the statutory-driven requirement to preserve and maintain first," he said.
As noted earlier, too, "you don’t do a lot of ribbon cuttings" to celebrate maintenance projects, he said, yet "it's so important to get the results" you want long-term for road conditions.
Though more pull-ins at the scales might be among the last things an owner-operator wants to see from state enforcement, a "robust size-and-weight enforcement program," Powell said, is part of preservation, too, conducted in partnership with the Florida Highway Patrol. He emphasized that "overweight trucks are one of the first causes of deterioration."
The state's made strides with weigh-in-motion scales on the main line in several areas, likewise larger static stop-and-weigh scales requiring just a single stop rather than weights on axle pairs separately.
Looking ahead to next year, with the expiration of the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and Congress taking up reauthorization, Powell noted Florida appreciates federal help, supplying roughly 24% of the funding FDOT relies on for upkeep.
The state could always use more funding, though, he noted, and more flexibility with how those funds are used with monies delivered by formula rather than just grants for specific projects. At once, a fairly recently awarded $180 million INFRA program grant Powell well appreciates. Truckers will, too, as it should ultimately deliver upward of 900 new parking spaces along the I-4 corridor in the state, in part responsive to truckers' input on parking needs.
Developing new truck parking is complicated, Powell recognizes, and the state's relied on the trucking community to help direct them to areas of need, through the Florida Trucking Association and with other outreach efforts to study space inventories and deliver information via roadside signs and online tools. A 2023 parking-plan implementation study, he said, "gave us a lot of data" assisting efforts to balance parking-space supply and demand with actual utilization. Likewise some "out-of-the-box thinking," he added, whether through collaborative efforts with private entities, utilization of existing rights-of-way at interchanges for parking in infields and the like, or basic restriping of existing lots.
It's a simple fact, Powell noted, that restriping a rest area, say, for back-in truck parking instead of pull-through spaces could deliver "30% more parking spaces" with the same real estate.
Maybe bone up on those blind-side backing skills, driver.
In addition to those I-4 projects, the state this year's formed a truck-parking working group, among whose tasks is to develop a pipeline of parking projects worth $40M in the next four years, with that money "allocated straight to parking," Powell said.
Overdrive readers no doubt hope at least some of it goes to the Miami area.
Though Florida overall ranked in the top three for best parking statewide, the Miami area also cracked the top-ten worst metros for parking at No. 6 in our Highway Report Card survey results, as shown here.
Powell noted typical congestion-related urban-metro-area challenges for parking availability, likewise that "we don't have any rest areas or weigh stations" in the entire county under DOT control today. But there is one project, at least, in the pipeline to start in 2027 for dedicated truck parking. Look for it over the next five-six years.
What's happening in other high-ranking "Best Roads" states? We asked, and received the following statements from DOTs in three other among the top five states.
No. 2: Texas
TxDOT Information Specialist Laura Butterbrodt offered this response to questions about the state's high roads/parking rankings in the 2025 Highway Report Card, likewise what other states might be able to learn from the state highway program:
TxDOT is committed to building and maintaining high quality roads across the state, with plans to invest nearly $45 billion for development and routine maintenance over the next 10 years to approximately 200,000 miles of highways. By designing for current traffic conditions, factoring in future growth and strict adherence to quality standards in construction, Texas pavements are designed, built and maintained to last. TxDOT’s pavement asset management planning process ensures the right roads are given attention at the right times to maintain exceptional conditions, addressing both ride quality and surface distress.
In early 2025, TxDOT achieved a long-anticipated pavement quality goal: 90% of TxDOT’s lane-miles have a pavement condition score of “good” or better, as determined by Pavement Management Information Systems. By using data-driven approaches for the preservation and rehabilitation of roads, alongside innovative research and design, TxDOT strives to have well-maintained, resilient infrastructure across Texas. Strong support from Texas voters and the Legislature have historically provided TxDOT the resources necessary to maintain these pavement conditions.
TxDOT is working with local governments, ports and industry partners to support the vital role of the trucking industry to the Texas economy. The safe and efficient movement of freight depends on adequate and strategically located truck parking. TxDOT is committed to addressing truck parking through statewide, regional and corridor action plans, as well as technological innovations. In 2020, TxDOT completed a Statewide Truck Parking Study, which was followed by regional truck parking action plans for Houston/Southeast Texas and El Paso/Far West Texas, the regions identified in the study as most in need of truck parking. TxDOT is in the process of installing Dynamic Message Signs along on I-10 for the Truck Parking Availability System (TPAS), in collaboration with the state DOTs of New Mexico, Arizona, and California.
Texas came in at No. 1 for Best Parking in the Highway Report Card, by a large margin above the No. 2 and 3 states, Ohio and Florida.
No. 4: Kansas
KDOT Public Information Chief Phillip Harris thanked truckers for recognizing the state and its DOT's employees and contractors for high road quality, yet noted what Kansas is doing to achieve it isn't "new or out of the box" in nature.
"We have used a pavement management system for years to help optimize preservation actions on our roadways," Harris said, echoing Florida's Rudy Powell in some ways. "Preservation is a top priority in KDOT’s current Eisenhower Legacy Transportation Program" guiding 10 years' and $10B worth of highways investment there, "and this has allowed us to take advantage of consistent funding."
That state DOT's averaged about $1B annually for the last five years in contracts related to both roads and bridges. Harris added that both consistency and use flexibility with respect to federal and state funding is paramount for federal and state legislators to keep in mind. "It provides the stability and agility to address the ever-changing needs," he said.
Truckers who travel to and through the state in particular lauded I-70 there as the No. 9 best stretch of roadway, in stark contrast to I-70 elsewhere. (Indiana I-70 was far and away the "winner" of the worst-route contest.)
Harris urged working drivers to keep the feedback coming. KDOT values "input from the traveling public, including truckers, on needed maintenance and system improvements," he noted. "This feedback is part of what helps us prioritize the work performed by our maintenance teams."
[Related: Like a 'bronco buster at a rodeo': Truckers' experience of U.S. roads today]
No. 5: Nevada
As with other high-performing states, Nevada DOT Public Information Office Meg Ragonese emphasized NDOT's preservation prioritization, but also a 40% increase in freight moved into, out of or within Nevada between 2010 and 2022.
"At the crossroads of the west, Nevada is an emerging freight and logistics powerhouse that continues to attract new warehousing, distribution, and manufacturing industry," she noted with a statement that detailed some recent and new projects, as well as efforts of the state's Freight Advisory Committee to marshal input from the private sector to deliver on road-upkeep and parking needs:
We aim to build system-wide resilience through coordinated investments in truck climbing lanes, truck parking capacity, and bottleneck mitigation.
Projects within the state freight plan are prioritized through the One Nevada Transportation Plan, which evaluates investments based on performance, cost-effectiveness, and long-term economic benefit. As Nevada’s population continues to grow -- population increased 15% from 2010 to 2020 -- NDOT continues to prudently prioritize preserving existing roadways while planning for future needs.
Truck parking needs are seen in northern Nevada, particularly when winter storms close I-80 in the Sierras. In southern Nevada, increasing warehouse and industrial development near residential areas has increased the need for more designated truck parking areas. NDOT developed the Nevada Truck Parking Implementation Plan in 2019 as a blueprint for expanding, improving, and integrating freight truck parking and truck parking communications systems in response to rising demand, changing hours of service requirements, and safety standards. The Plan outlines statewide truck parking, urban truck parking, and technology opportunities, and provides options available to fund plan recommendations. ...
About a few highway projects either completed or in the works:
The I-15 Tropicana Interchange Project, completed in spring 2025, is already showing truck mobility improvements, with reduced congestion on the heavily-traveled stretch of I-15 in the heart of Las Vegas. Another project in Las Vegas Valley is a recent example of significant freight improvements. Along with new lanes and wider shoulders, NDOT’s I-15 North Widening phase 3 project also included expanded truck parking and installation of new weigh-in-motion sensors.
NDOT is also investing in freight improvements in rural areas. With almost half of traffic on I-80 near Winnemucca consisting of large trucks, NDOT installed approximately three miles of truck climbing lanes at Golconda Summit. Along with nearly 50 new truck parking spots and bridge and lighting enhancements, the new truck lane and parking facilities improve freight travel and mobility along this critical national freight route.
On collaboration with trucking, other private-sector players and the state's freight-advisory group:
The Nevada Freight Advisory Committee collaborates quarterly with public and private stakeholders to further community-driven solutions and better understand freight mobility and truck driver needs. In Nevada, we have been fortunate to engage eager private-sector travel center operators and commercial real estate developers who want to find a way forward to increase truck parking capacity and development. These private-sector partners are natives of the state and hold a deep appreciation for the work commercial vehicle operators do for the nation by keeping store shelves stocked and the national supply chain moving.
Though there are still obstacles to creating a roadmap for doing so, this is an important piece to develop public-private partnerships for truck parking capacity expansion and development.
Readers can use the form below to access the 20-plus-page Highway Report Card detailing Worst and Best states for roads and parking, likewise routes and metro areas where attention is most needed. Read associated reporting via this link.
