Washington ? Road conditions in and around Kansas City and St. Louis are among the worst in the nation, a new study of large metropolitan areas shows.

About 71 percent of major roads and highways in the Kansas City area are considered substandard, ranking the city No. 1 on the list of large urban areas with poor quality roads.

The St. Louis area ranked No. 3, with 66 percent of major routes having unacceptable quality pavement, according to the study released Thursday by TRIP, a Washington-based transportation research group.

The organization – funded by insurance companies, construction firms and highway engineering companies – is urging Congress to spend more to upgrade roads and ease traffic congestion.

“Unfortunately it’s not surprising to us,” said Jeff Briggs, a spokesman for the Missouri Department of Transportation. “We’ve known for a while now that our roads are in pretty rough shape.”

With the nation’s seventh-largest state highway system, Missouri has unusually high traffic volume, but not enough tax revenues to fund road improvements, Briggs said.

Kansas City officials said the city was working to improve its roads, with $75 million of a $250 million bond issue approved in 2004 designated for street repairs.

The metropolitan area with the best roads is Atlanta, followed by Orlando, Fla., Columbus, Ga., Pensacola, Fla., and Phoenix-Mesa, Ariz.