In my opinion, everyone thinks the roads are bad where they live because they are. The quality of roads directly relates to the tax base. The more wealthy an area is and the more tax revenue a municipality can get the higher quality your roads. So yea, Indiana isn’t going to have good roads.
Indiana
Exactly this. Ditch and 86th is pothole central, but if you drive up to Carmel the roads are magnificent, it's all about taxes of the area.
My mom used to live in Indiana, and I can recall when you crossed into Indiana right around Richmond, I-70 turned into a mess of pot holes. Not sure if that's still a thing because I'm not out that way much anymore.
I've driven pretty extensively throughout both Ohio and Indiana and I don't think either state has a monopoly on terrible roads.
I drive through there all the time, they've done some construction and it's not as bad as it used to be.
I will say that neither Ohio nor Indiana has potholes like what I've seen in Michigan, especially around Detroit.
So us normal people feel there's nothing wrong with the road production, just how much traffic vs how often you replace it?
I'm sure the DOT people would have more insight, but they seem to be focused on serving.
The last time I passed through IN on my way to MI, there was a noticeable deterioration of road quality as soon as you crossed the state line. And this was coming from Illinois where our roads are nothing to write home about. The last time I drove to Indy was rough too.