We are three weeks into a tour of Michigan and Wisconsin. Michigan has been EXCEPTIONAL for having freshly paved roads and clean, clean roadways. 

Most of my riding has been in the west. Typical roads are cracked and crumbling, with small shoulders. The amount of trash roadside is a disgrace. 

I've always thought that the cracked roadways were because of the winter freeze cycle. That must not hold true, because it certainly freezes in Michigan!

That is the background story - the actual question is if there are other states that have such inviting roads to ride.

Kelly not a direct answer to your question, but a similar observation about state road quality in Australia. On a recent cycle tour  which crossed four state borders, the most marked differences in road quality were going from South Australia to Western Australia.

 As soon as we crossed the border, there was a wider shoulder and better surface. We were on the same national highway 1, but obviously one state spent more than the other on the road. Probably the state with most mining royalty revenue. 

Roadside litter was awful along most major roads. South Australia was marginally better. For many years they have had a refund scheme for drink bottles and cans. 

Kelly -I think you were on the better roads in Michigan! We did a tour a few years ago that took us in the eastern part of the state nearer to Lake Huron. The roads were awful - in the cities as well as in the country. We were told that was due to the freeze/thaw cycle as well as the state/counties not spending money on road maintence. Perhaps they keep things smoother where there are more tourists???

My personal experience is that the state of Nevada has the best roads in the US. Roads always improve dramatically when crossing from a surrounding state into Nevada. I presume that gambling and mining tax revenue are the reason.

We’ve been in western and upstate New York for almost three weeks now, and I’ve been really surprised at what a great cycling region this is.  Everywhere we’ve gone we’ve found a wealth of quiet, well maintained rural roads to choose from; and many of the primary roads are great too, often having a wide paved shoulder.  It’s been the one part of our current tour that we’re the most likely to return to some year.

I think I can verify what Wayne said with this picture:

I will also vouch for what Scott said about New York's highways.  After a stormy night camping along the Erie Canal trail, I abandoned the wet trail for the pavement of New York State Highway 31.  I sang it's praises in the following passage from my journal:

Consider this:  Not only does the State of New York provide an excellent 500-mile bike trail that crosses the state, but following close to the canal is this Highway 31 thing--a designated bicycling highway with ridiculously wide shoulders (most commonly 8 feet, up to 10 feet, but never less than 4 feet.)  If a motorist wanted to take out a bike rider on this highway, he would have to make a considerable effort to do so.  Either that or the biker would have to make a considerable effort to GET hit.

Gregory your observation of  welcoming NY routes is almost the total opposite of one local government jurisdiction I cycled through recently in Western Australia. I loved the brutally  honest words on their bullet riddled welcome sign. Clearly extravagant road shoulders for cyclists wasn’t on their To Do list.