Misdiagnosed Ills

Much like how you don't notice the inefficiency of urban design until you have to buy gas, you often don't realize how expensive it is to maintain roads until you have to get alignments more often:

Forty-one percent of Cleveland-area highways and major roads were in "poor or mediocre condition," based on 2008 reports to the Federal Highway Administration, TRIP reported.
The pock-marked routes result in $295 in added costs yearly for the average Cleveland driver, the report said.

Unfortunately, when the cost is only paid at the gas pump or at the repair shop, it's harder to identify that the cause is systemic.