We often hear the nation’s infrastructure is crumbling, but state highway conditions are the best they’ve been in 19 years, according to Reason Foundation’s 19th Annual Highway Report. Unfortunately, the recession is partly responsible for the improvement in road conditions: people are driving less which has helped slow pavement deterioration and reduced traffic congestion and fatalities.

The annual Reason Foundation study measures the condition and cost-effectiveness of state-owned roads in 11 categories, including deficient bridges, urban traffic congestion, fatality rates, pavement condition on urban and rural Interstates and on major rural roads, and the number of unsafe narrow rural lanes. National performance in all of those key areas improved in 2008, the most recent year with complete data available.

Drivers in California, Minnesota, Maryland, Michigan and Connecticut are stuck in the worst traffic. Over 65 percent of all urban Interstates are congested in each of those five states. But nationally, the percentage of urban Interstates that are congested fell below 50 percent for the first time since 2000, when congestion standards were revised.

Motorists in California and Hawaii have to look out for the most potholes on urban Interstates. In those two states, 25 percent of urban interstate pavement is in poor condition. Alaska and Rhode Island have the bumpiest rural pavement, each with about 10 percent in poor condition. However, nationally, pavement conditions on urban Interstates are the best they’ve been since 1993, and rural primary roads are the smoothest they’ve been since 1993 also.

Rhode Island has the most troubled bridges in the country, with over 53 percent of bridges deficient. For comparison, just 10 percent of top-ranked Nevada’s bridges are rated deficient. Across the country, over 141,000 (23.7 percent) of America’s bridges were structurally deficient or functionally obsolete in 2008, the lowest percentage since 1984.

With the recession reducing driving, and engineering improving road design and car safety features, traffic fatalities have steadily fallen to the lowest levels since the 1960s. Massachusetts has the safest roads with just 0.67 fatalities per 100 million miles driven. Montana and Louisiana have the highest fatality rates, at 2.12 and 2.02 fatalities per million miles driven.

Overall, North Dakota, Montana and Kansas have the most cost-effective state highway systems. Rhode Island, Alaska, California, Hawaii and New York have the least cost-effective roads. The full Annual Highway Report rankings are:

1. North Dakota

2. Montana

3. Kansas

4. New Mexico

5. Nebraska

6. South Carolina

7. Wyoming

8. Missouri

9. Georgia

10. Oregon

11. Delaware

12. South Dakota

13. Texas

14. Kentucky

15. Nevada

16. Mississippi

17. Idaho

18. Virginia

19. Tennessee

20. Alabama

21. North Carolina

22. Utah

23. Indiana

24. Ohio

25. Minnesota

26. Arizona

27. New Hampshire

28. Wisconsin

29. Arkansas

30. West Virginia

31. Iowa

32. Maine

33. Washington

34. Colorado

35. Michigan

36. Louisiana

37. Oklahoma

38. Pennsylvania

39. Florida

40. Illinois

41. Connecticut

42. Vermont

43. Maryland

44. Massachusetts

45. New Jersey

46. New York

47. Hawaii

48. California

49. Alaska

50. Rhode Island

Over the last two years New Jersey has moved up from last to 45th in the overall rankings, but still spends dramatically more than every other state. New Jersey spends $1.1 million per mile on state roads. The second biggest spender, Florida, spends $671,000 per mile and California spends $545,000 per mile. South Carolina had the lowest expenses, spending just $34,000 per mile.

California also squanders a massive amount of transportation money that never makes it onto roads, spending $93,464 in administrative costs for every mile of state road. New York ($89,194 per mile), Massachusetts ($71,982), and New Jersey ($62,748) also compare poorly to states like Texas ($6,529) and Virginia ($6,370) that spend dramatically less on administrative costs.

“We’re seeing several factors combine to produce significant improvement in highway conditions,” said David T. Hartgen, author of the report and emeritus professor of transportation studies at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. “Over the last several years, states invested a lot more money to improve pavement and bridges. Spending increased 8 percent from 2007 to 2008, and per-mile spending on state roads has almost tripled since 1984, so you’d hope and expect to see improved performance. As pavement gets better, roads are widened and bridges get repaired, you’d also expect safety to improve. And the significant reduction in vehicle miles traveled during the recession has also played a role in slowing system decay. But as the states run short of money and deal with large budget deficits, we’ll see if this progress can be continued.”

Detailed Results for Each State

Alabama

Alaska

Arizona

Arkansas

California

Colorado

Connecticut

Delaware

Florida

Georgia

Hawaii

Idaho

Illinois

Indiana

Iowa

Kansas

Kentucky

Louisiana

Maine

Maryland

Massachusetts

Michigan

Minnesota

Mississippi

Missouri

Montana

Nebraska

Nevada

New Hampshire

New Jersey

New Mexico

New York

North Carolina

North Dakota

Ohio

Oklahoma

Oregon

Pennsylvania

Rhode Island

South Carolina

South Dakota

Tennessee

Texas

Utah

Vermont

Virginia

Washington

West Virginia

Wisconsin

Wyoming

Previous Editions of the Annual Highway Report



18th Annual Highway Report by David T. Hartgen



17th Annual Highway Report by David T. Hartgen

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