Unnecessary Roughness

Truckers really would know best...and in a trucker-oriented magazine, I found the following:

"While a few places are rough, they are being replaced or are scheduled to be, Kirkpatrick says. “Over the last 10 years, Pennsylvania has dramatically improved the riding surface of its interstates,” he says. “The median number for the International Roughness Index, the nationally accepted measure of pavement smoothness, dropped from nearly 105 in 1996 to roughly 86 in 2003. The median for I-80 in 2003 was 78 and for I-81, 84. These numbers represent very good ride quality. It remains a mystery to us why your readers insist that our interstates are not in good condition. We have invested a lot of money in the primary truck routes.”'

- Overdrive Magazine (http://www.etrucker.com/apps/news/article.asp?id=45565)

The International Roughness Index!!! What a concept!