Your favorite/least favorite state DOT?

[STLmapboy]

What is your favorite state DOT? The criterion are many; road maintenance, funding, signage consistency, signalization, etc. I personally like TXDOT (admiring the work they do across their vast area and those sexy stack interchanges).

[webny99]

The Texas Stacks are impressive from a design/architectural point of view, but I'm not a fan otherwise. They feel overdone from a roadgeek perspective.

[Max Rockatansky]

The old California Division of Highways by far.  The amount of pioneering in highway development they are responsible for is pretty epic in scale.  Almost all of the notable highways in California where built under the Division of Highways.  Things like CA 1 in Big Sur just wouldn't be possible in today's climate with the legislature and a decidedly less vibrant Caltrans. 

[Rothman]

NYSDOT.  After all, through these gates pass America's best highway maintenance workers.

[US 89]

My least favorite would almost certainly be NMDOT. They don't know how to plan for a growing city, they don't maintain their roads very well, they don't give a shit about signage, and their online route log/record keeping system sucks.

[kphoger]

TxDOT wins for me based on striping and signage.

(even if they do have those stupid "obey warning signs" things...)

[Henry]

Of the three home state DOTs, WSDOT wins hands down. Caltrans is too old-fashioned, and IDOT is just a big, steaming pile of shit.

[sprjus4]

For me, either TxDOT or NCDOT.

I don't necessarily have a least favorite DOT.

[kphoger]

I'm not sure I have a least favorite, but New Mexico would have to be down at the bottom of the barrel.

[Max Rockatansky]

My least favorite would almost certainly be NMDOT. They don't know how to plan for a growing city, they don't maintain their roads very well, they don't give a shit about signage, and their online route log/record keeping system sucks.

Agree, NMDOT maintained roads on the whole are the worst on average of any state I've lived or worked in. 

[Ben114]

My least favorite would either be NYSDOT, for a lack of consistency, or ConnDOT for never replacing their aging signs.

[Ned Weasel]

TxDOT wins for me based on striping and signage.

I've seen lanes dropped without proper warning.  The examples that come to mind were on eastbound I-10 at the eastern TX 375 interchange in/near El Paso, and on northbound US 75 way north of Dallas, where it goes from four lanes down to two.  I don't know if either has been fixed yet.

Their signs usually look good, though.

(even if they do have those stupid "obey warning signs" things...)

I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks those are stupid.  If it was a sign to be obeyed, it would be a regulatory sign, not a warning sign.

[dvferyance]

Least favorite for me no brainer WIS DOT hands down. Way to obsessed with roundabouts too many unnecessary duplexes and illogical routings. KYDOT is second with their obsession with widening rural freeways while neglecting urban ones. Favorite I would say it's tie between Georgia and NCDOT. Both states do a great job keeping their freeways up to date. And especially NC they keep building new ones.

[STLmapboy]

I also like UDOT (great roads, though US route concurrencies could be signed better). NCDOT does a nice job as well, though its insistence on still installing signals with span wires disturbs me. IDOT is just crappy; certain freeways in the Metro East (Illinois STL suburbs) are awful, though at least they did close down a part of 255 entirely to reconstruct it.

[sprjus4]

NCDOT does a nice job as well, though its insistence on still installing signals with span wires disturbs me.

Can't disagree with this one.

[ilpt4u]

Of the three home state DOTs, WSDOT wins hands down. Caltrans is too old-fashioned, and IDOT is just a big, steaming pile of shit.

Do Tollway/Turnpike Authorities fall into this category?

If they do, I vote ISTHA.

If not...hmm...not sure really on a best or worst. IDOT certainly does have issues

[TEG24601]

Least Favorite is a toss up between ODOT (Oregon) and INDOT.  ODOT couldn't properly sign if they had a manual, and the competing systems just makes things confusing.  INDOT sucks because they don't have any creative ideas to fix all of their illogical gaps that are forced on them by the state, they have no idea how to maintain roads nor plan for growth.


Favorite would likely be either WSDOT or HIDOT.  WSDOT works to solve design issues, works with developers to ensure that they address the growth impacts (as required by law), and seems to always be open for suggestion.  HIDOT seems to do a great job with signing for locals and tourists alike, along with intuitive lane markings, and creative traffic solutions without building more lanes (like the Zipper Lanes).

[Brandon]

Of the three home state DOTs, WSDOT wins hands down. Caltrans is too old-fashioned, and IDOT is just a big, steaming pile of shit.

Do Tollway/Turnpike Authorities fall into this category?

If they do, I vote ISTHA.

If not...hmm...not sure really on a best or worst. IDOT certainly does have issues

Issues may be putting it mildly.
https://goo.gl/maps/CxpuKwMyQMNv9yB76 Yes, that is a metal plate.
https://goo.gl/maps/rFhkz4KXtmFon27v9
https://goo.gl/maps/3Zn2TresJGq4m8Tz7
https://goo.gl/maps/3f6BTTTkoJ4qBmb4A
https://goo.gl/maps/oSXTHS6Z8UQW336J9
https://goo.gl/maps/5iusMqeZmkTGpaGY6 Yes, another metal plate.
https://goo.gl/maps/Z8yji2R9e6PDCgxw9 Northbound is no better.  That's a much bigger plate.
https://goo.gl/maps/mJp5GkHi2QzGpLYs9 What happens when your seams split.

[cpzilliacus]

For me, either TxDOT or NCDOT.

North Carolina has one long and embarrassingly bad Interstate - most of I-95 in the Tar Heel State is under-dimensioned (only two lanes each way frequently with a narrow PennDOT-style median barrier) and many of the interchanges are dangerously obsolete and need to be replaced. 

[cpzilliacus]

Of the three home state DOTs, WSDOT wins hands down. Caltrans is too old-fashioned, and IDOT is just a big, steaming pile of shit.

Do Tollway/Turnpike Authorities fall into this category?

If they do, I vote ISTHA.

If not...hmm...not sure really on a best or worst. IDOT certainly does have issues

Issues may be putting it mildly.
https://goo.gl/maps/CxpuKwMyQMNv9yB76 Yes, that is a metal plate.
https://goo.gl/maps/rFhkz4KXtmFon27v9
https://goo.gl/maps/3Zn2TresJGq4m8Tz7
https://goo.gl/maps/3f6BTTTkoJ4qBmb4A
https://goo.gl/maps/oSXTHS6Z8UQW336J9
https://goo.gl/maps/5iusMqeZmkTGpaGY6 Yes, another metal plate.
https://goo.gl/maps/Z8yji2R9e6PDCgxw9 Northbound is no better.  That's a much bigger plate.
https://goo.gl/maps/mJp5GkHi2QzGpLYs9 What happens when your seams split.

Do you know if a lot of motor fuel tax revenue in Illinois is diverted to transit operating and capital subsidies?

[Brandon]

Of the three home state DOTs, WSDOT wins hands down. Caltrans is too old-fashioned, and IDOT is just a big, steaming pile of shit.

Do Tollway/Turnpike Authorities fall into this category?

If they do, I vote ISTHA.

If not...hmm...not sure really on a best or worst. IDOT certainly does have issues

Issues may be putting it mildly.
https://goo.gl/maps/CxpuKwMyQMNv9yB76 Yes, that is a metal plate.
https://goo.gl/maps/rFhkz4KXtmFon27v9
https://goo.gl/maps/3Zn2TresJGq4m8Tz7
https://goo.gl/maps/3f6BTTTkoJ4qBmb4A
https://goo.gl/maps/oSXTHS6Z8UQW336J9
https://goo.gl/maps/5iusMqeZmkTGpaGY6 Yes, another metal plate.
https://goo.gl/maps/Z8yji2R9e6PDCgxw9 Northbound is no better.  That's a much bigger plate.
https://goo.gl/maps/mJp5GkHi2QzGpLYs9 What happens when your seams split.

Do you know if a lot of motor fuel tax revenue in Illinois is diverted to transit operating and capital subsidies?

I don't think all that much is, but a lot seems to wind up greasing some wheels, and some pocketbooks too.  There is a reason Missouri can do more with less money (and MoDOT's freaking broke too).

[kphoger]

Missouri?  The state where every project has "cheap" as its goal?

[Brandon]

Missouri?  The state where every project has "cheap" as its goal?

Hell, InDOT, IowaDOT and WisDOT do more with less money than IDOT.

[kkt]

Is it fair to blame a DOT when the legislature or the tax base is really the problem?

[ozarkman417]

Missouri?  The state where every project has "cheap" as its goal?

or "delay", for the same reason. They're broke.