"We pay taxes for public roads" is the classic excuse.
Sure local and state ones maybe, but the Federal government only pays about 25% of all road costs.
Discussion
Where I live we fix the roads ourselves because the local gov is corrupt and misappropriates the money.
The only time work actually gets done is federal government grants which the council are only allowed to spend on roads.
Plus it's all incentivized to be bloated, slow and corrupt, gov pays private companies and wall gardens