States’ roads are empty after a vehicle got gutted (5)
I believe the answer is:
avers
'states'' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'roads are empty after a vehicle got gutted' is the wordplay.
'are empty' suggests removing the centre.
'after' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'got gutted' means to remove the middle letters (to gut something is to remove its insides).
'roads' with its middle removed is 'rs'.
'vehicle' with its middle taken out is 've'.
'a'+'ve'='ave'
'rs' after 'ave' is 'AVERS'.
(Other definitions for avers that I've seen before include "States firmly - really raves" , "Alleges, asserts" , "Declares to be true" , "States to be true" , "Swears" .)