Photo by lifeinthedistrict

If you caught yourself thinking that the city’s roads are in shoddy condition, it’s not just you—the D.C. Department of Transportation recently admitted that over half of the roads in the city are pretty crappy, writes TBD:

In Washington, D.C., 56% of our local streets are considered of fair or poor quality as opposed to good or excellent, according to DDOT’s recent performance review before the D.C. Council. We have 598 miles of local streets in D.C overall, so this translates into nearly 335 miles of subpar roadways. Despite that bummer of a statistic, the agency says local roads experienced a “slight improvement” over years past, and in 2011, DDOT resurfaced and improved 41 center-lane miles for a cool $5.4 million.

Federal roads within city limits seem to be in marginally better condition—only 42 percent of those are considered fair or poor—while more than a fifth of roads owned by D.C. fall into the poor category. That we’ve had fewer potholes this winter due to the mild weather helps put this all in perspective, though—just imagine how much worse the roads could be!

I tend to care less about poor local roads while I drive than while I bike. It’s a pretty unscientific measure, but I usually assign what I call the “Teeth-Chatter Value” to every road I ride on. (The more your teeth chatter from the uneven roadway surface, the higher the value. The scale is a work in progress; it ranges from 0 to 63.5.) U Street consistently scores high, but Adams Mill Road from Adams Morgan to Harvard Street NW might well take top honors. And though it’s federal, Beach Drive north to the Maryland Line is a serious offender.

Any D.C. roads really raise your ire, whether in a car or on a bike?