Americans are prodigious drivers. each year, the country's wheels spin across 1.5 trillion kilometers of roadways. That's about 5,000 km for each man, woman and child in the United States. But despite the national appetite for blacktop, pavement rarely gets a second thought. Except when it's time to swerve around a pothole, or bump across a rut-filled intersection. Then, chances are, the irate driver will indignantly demand, "Why don't they fix these darn roads?"

Relax, they are.