

Overall Highway Performance Rank - Highway Report 2017 Overall Highway Performance Rank - Highway Report 2017

1 to 10 Very Good 11 to 20 Good 21 to 30 Average 31 to 40 Bad 41 to 50 Very Bad

Reason Foundation’s Annual Highway Report ranks the performance of state highway systems in 11 categories, including spending per mile, pavement conditions, deficient bridges, traffic congestion, and fatality rates.

North Dakota was the top-ranked state on performance and cost-effectiveness thanks to excellent scores on urban Interstate pavement condition (3rd overall), rural Interstate pavement condition (4th), urbanized area traffic congestion (4th), and maintenance disbursements per mile (3rd). Kansas, South Dakota, Nebraska and South Carolina were the other states in top five of the overall rankings.

New Jersey ranked last, 50th, in overall performance and cost-effectiveness due to having the worst urban traffic congestion and spending the most per mile — $2 million per mile of state-controlled highway, more than double what Florida, the next highest state, spent per mile. Rhode Island, Alaska, Hawaii and Connecticut were also in the bottom five of the overall rankings.

This edition of the study is based on spending and performance data that state highway agencies submitted to the federal government for the year 2015, the most recent year with complete data available. The overall rankings are:

Overall Performance and Cost-Effectiveness Rankings

23rd Annual Highway Report (PDF)

Click a state name for detailed information about its results.

Massachusetts had the lowest fatality rate. Wyoming had the least traffic congestion. And Alaska had the worst pavement condition. Here is how the states performed in each category:

Each State’s Highway Performance Rankings in Each Category

State Overall Total Disbursements per mile Capital & Bridge Disbursements per mile Maintenance Disbursements per mile Administrative Disbursements per mile Rural Interstate Pavement Condition Urban Interstate Pavement Condition Rural Arterial Pavement Condition Urbanized Area Congestion* Deficient Bridges Fatality Rates Narrow Rural Arterial Lanes Alabama 17 22 23 1 34 21 10 38 13 26 33 38 Alaska 48 20 32 28 21 48 50 28 8 18 35 19 Arizona 16 40 34 20 45 22 15 4 36 1 41 1 Arkansas 29 8 12 11 7 36 35 44 11 24 46 45 California 42 43 41 47 46 33 45 46 49 28 14 1 Colorado 31 28 31 33 22 47 22 29 35 8 22 30 Connecticut 46 44 42 31 50 35 48 26 27 44 6 14 Delaware 19 27 13 35 32 NA 1 12 37 13 34 23 Florida 35 49 49 44 41 5 2 6 40 11 42 21 Georgia 18 19 17 15 43 29 7 18 47 9 27 29 Hawaii 47 45 48 41 33 NA 46 50 20 49 12 40 Idaho 7 17 22 25 13 32 12 15 7 17 36 15 Illinois 28 41 46 38 29 1 3 5 46 7 15 33 Indiana 34 31 37 42 19 43 29 43 25 16 20 32 Iowa 15 21 33 21 12 24 39 25 3 34 17 24 Kansas 2 18 21 13 16 10 6 22 15 6 24 12 Kentucky 13 14 14 14 1 19 8 20 26 40 47 35 Louisiana 37 23 16 22 5 42 40 49 31 39 44 26 Maine 23 11 9 23 4 6 31 24 12 43 21 42 Maryland 40 47 44 46 35 26 26 41 39 32 9 17 Massachusetts 44 48 47 45 49 40 41 35 45 46 1 1 Michigan 32 33 35 30 26 41 19 45 33 33 19 36 Minnesota 25 26 30 34 23 39 30 39 41 2 3 16 Mississippi 11 12 15 4 14 37 23 31 16 19 48 10 Missouri 9 5 3 12 3 16 9 19 24 30 26 37 Montana 6 6 8 8 18 17 28 8 9 14 49 25 Nebraska 4 10 10 18 2 11 24 23 10 25 28 9 Nevada 20 24 26 16 42 15 33 11 28 27 32 27 New Hampshire 30 32 25 43 38 1 43 2 30 38 7 1 New Jersey 50 50 50 50 48 31 47 47 50 42 4 1 New Mexico 24 13 7 2 44 18 14 10 14 4 23 46 New York 45 46 45 49 40 44 34 48 48 48 8 44 North Carolina 14 3 4 7 9 14 25 7 22 41 29 41 North Dakota 1 15 29 3 10 4 18 3 4 15 37 13 Ohio 26 34 38 26 36 28 17 27 23 20 18 34 Oklahoma 33 29 27 37 39 38 37 42 18 23 38 20 Oregon 21 35 18 27 30 20 20 30 38 29 30 22 Pennsylvania 41 30 28 32 28 27 36 33 34 45 25 48 Rhode Island 49 42 43 48 47 34 49 32 29 50 2 31 South Carolina 5 2 1 10 6 9 21 16 17 21 50 28 South Dakota 3 4 6 5 17 13 32 14 5 31 43 8 Tennessee 12 16 20 19 24 7 5 9 32 12 31 39 Texas 22 38 39 29 11 23 16 34 44 10 40 18 Utah 10 36 19 40 27 8 13 13 19 3 13 1 Vermont 39 25 24 36 37 3 38 1 6 37 5 47 Virginia 27 7 5 24 15 12 4 21 42 36 10 49 Washington 43 39 40 39 25 45 27 37 43 35 16 43 West Virginia 36 1 2 6 8 25 42 17 2 47 39 50 Wisconsin 38 37 36 17 31 46 44 40 21 5 11 11 Wyoming 8 9 11 9 20 30 11 36 1 22 45 1

Nearly half of the states (23 of 50) made progress compared to the previous report. Two states, Iowa and Delaware, improved their overall rankings by double digits, while six states had overall rankings that worsened by 10 or more spots:

Iowa improved 25 positions, from 40 th to 15 th in the overall rankings, as the state’s per mile spending increased somewhat but mileage in poor condition (on urban and rural Interstates and rural arterials) improved considerably.

to 15 in the overall rankings, as the state’s per mile spending increased somewhat but mileage in poor condition (on urban and rural Interstates and rural arterials) improved considerably. Delaware improved 18 spots, from 37 th to 19 th overall, as per mile spending decreased while mileage in poor condition (on urban Interstates and rural arterials) still improved.

to 19 overall, as per mile spending decreased while mileage in poor condition (on urban Interstates and rural arterials) still improved. Wisconsin fell 10 spots, from 28 th to 38 th , as per mile spending increased even as mileage in poor condition (on urban and rural Interstates) worsened.

to 38 , as per mile spending increased even as mileage in poor condition (on urban and rural Interstates) worsened. West Virginia fell 11 spots, from 25 th to 36 th , as the condition of its bridges worsened, as did the condition of its rural Interstates and arterials.

to 36 , as the condition of its bridges worsened, as did the condition of its rural Interstates and arterials. New Mexico fell 13 spots, from 11 th to 24 th , as urban area congestion worsened and narrow rural arterial lane mileage increased.

to 24 , as urban area congestion worsened and narrow rural arterial lane mileage increased. Oklahoma fell 16 spots, from 17 th to 33 rd , as per mile spending increased even as mileage in poor condition (on urban and rural Interstates and rural arterials) worsened considerably.

to 33 , as per mile spending increased even as mileage in poor condition (on urban and rural Interstates and rural arterials) worsened considerably. Ohio fell 17 spots, from 9 th to 26 th , as per mile spending increased but the state’s road conditions worsened. Additionally, Ohio’s percentage of bridges in deficient condition jumped considerably as this year’s totals included functionally obsolete bridges, whereas in the last assessment, this information was not provided.

to 26 , as per mile spending increased but the state’s road conditions worsened. Additionally, Ohio’s percentage of bridges in deficient condition jumped considerably as this year’s totals included functionally obsolete bridges, whereas in the last assessment, this information was not provided. Maine fell 18 spots, from 5th to 23rd, as per mile spending increased even as the state’s road conditions (particularly urban Interstates) worsened.

A 10-year average of state overall performance data indicates that a few states are finding it difficult to improve and major system performance problems seem to be concentrated in these states. For example: