Bruceha has it right for the northern part of the state. Down south here things are different. They just paved 30 miles of I-91 which, prior to the work, would have been the envy of any state. Very little traffic...good base, hardly a bump. This is about the 4th repaving in the 20 yrs I've lived here. Never has the "old surface" been even minimally bad.
My sister has lived in Northern VA for a long time, but she basked in the sun of California enlightenment for enough years that she knows incompetence when she sees it. She has made a similar comment to me about V-DOT and other Virginia/East Coast institutions that she finds equally frustrating. I do think that the rest areas I've used on I-81 are quite nice, though, so at least they got SOMEthing right!