The Roads

It has certainly been (and will be for quite a while yet) an interesting experience living in two places. I find both areas to be amazing places; just about (with just a few exceptions over the years) everyplace has interesting and fun things to offer, and certainly Virginia and North Carolina/South Carolina are no exceptions. Been lucky in my life to have lived in some eight states (living I define as periods of at least a month and usually longer, and some six foreign countries).
On a regular basis I drive the roads of Virginia and North Carolina (less to South Carolina, but at times there as well) and we who have come here have noted a few things. For sure, even my neighbor last night of all things was talking about the roads (he came from Carolina too, but not with my company). Virginia residents have also mentioned it in the past. So here is a bit on travel and...The Roads.
Virginia probably wonders "Are our roads as bad as other states?"and I would answer "Yes and no". Not as bad as some, but pretty bad in comparison with others. For sure the roads are recovering from the massive snow storms of last winter, but even with that, they are rough to say the least. I have been here some two years, and during my drives around town and on the highway I have quite a few places in the road and potholes that I actually know to look for and avoid..sort of like old reliable friends in the pavement. As my neighbor said last night, "was thinking about getting rims for my car, but figure they would get torn up" and its been popular at work to discuss them. I remember driving I-85 and dodging virtual craters in a highway moonscape. Bone shaking, teeth shattering, car repair inducing potholes are hardly uncommon just about anyplace outside or in the city.
I have noticed that cars stick to speed limits much better in Virginia than in Carolina (more on that shortly) partly due to the speed limit enforcement, but also likely due to the roads. You do see a lot of cars pulled over in Virginia and police enforcement is heavy. I also am happy that they have a much longer zone of 70 mph sections than in Carolina (though they have a few). Especially between Petersburg and close to Durham, NC on I-85 there are a lot of places where police can pull off and hide..and they like to do that. So far no tickets, and happy about that.
Much of the roads in Virginia have not been so much repaired as patched. Potholes are filled and bigger sections are repaired in like manor. Once you reach the VA/NC state line the situation changes. I have often said it is like crossing two worlds. North Carolina used to call itself "The Good Roads State" and for sure they seem to try to live up to that. I-85 is smooth and nice from the border onward. Perhaps due to the road conditions or distance you do notice that speeding increases. The average Carolina driver seems to think of the speed limits as suggestions, the tickets (police as in Carolina work the roads in a number of vehicles marked and unmarked) as a "cost of driving", and that they are rolling down the race track. Usually they are chatting on the cell phones as they roll along at 10-20 mph over the limit. It can (and does) get quite interesting at times. The only things that really slow down a Carolina driver is police, traffic, and road construction (the last being the price paid for those good roads).
However its a good road system there, and even the side roads are better. Is every road perfect...no. However in Carolina the bad roads stand out, in Virginia the good ones do. As I mentioned police like to watch for speeders. Radar detectors are illegal in Virginia, legal in North Carolina. Police tend to stop a lot of cars along the entire length but tend to be especially bad in Virginia between Petersburg and the VA state line. All those pull offs in that wooded divider down I-85 make great hiding places. In Carolina police tend to get a great many cars at city limits such as Hendersonville, Durham, Salisbury but can be anyplace and can drive anything. You see a lot of unmarked SUV's in North Carolina and they often are police vehicles. In both states watch out for Dodge Chargers!
Finally a quick note on the roads of South Carolina. They are even better (as a rule) then the ones in North Carolina; driven on some amazing South Carolina roads. Mentioned weather at the start and that may be a big factor, as South Carolina gets even less winter than North Carolina does, and in the winter they use very little salt on the roads in both states.
Finally, be careful on the roads, but enjoy the ride. All lives have a few potholes, some more than others.