Missouri's road infrastructure has been deemed eighth-worst among the 50 United States — the same ranking the Show-Me State received in an unrelated recent report on its health care system.

QuoteWizard, a website published by Lending Tree — an online company that sells car insurance, loans and other financial products — recently crunched some numbers from the Federal Highway Administration to deliver the opinion.

"Rankings are a composite score based on a state’s rating in percentage of poor condition roads, annual cost per motorist from roads in need of repair and percentage of structurally deficient bridges," QuoteWizard said. The ranking's key findings include the following:

Missouri roads in poor condition make up 23 percent of the state's total roads, according to QuoteWizard.

of the state's total roads, according to QuoteWizard. The annual cost per motorist "due to roads in need of repair" is $699 in Missouri.

in Missouri. Missouri's "structurally deficient" bridges make up 12 percent of the state's total bridges.

The very worst roads belong to Rhode Island, according to the report; Missouri's neighboring states landed all over the rankings:

Oklahoma is the second-worst;

Illinois came in 22nd;

Kansas was 27th;

Iowa was 29th;

Nebraska was 30th;

Arkansas was 39th;

Kentucky was 40th;

And Tennessee did best among Missouri neighbors, and all states, at 50th place — that is, it has the best roads in the nation.

Infrastructure is a top priority for Gov. Parson

Gov. Mike Parson has made fixing up state infrastructure a key focus of his administration and recently said Missouri has "one of the nation’s largest but lowest-funded highway systems."

Recently, the administration has been working on the bridge issue, announcing Sept. 6 that 14 bridges rated "poor" would be replaced, a move that Parson characterized as part of "great progress" being made toward infrastructure goals outlined by the state executive branch.

In July, the Missouri Department of Transportation received a federal grant worth more than $80 million to build a new bridge over the Missouri River on I-70 near Rocheport and to put I-70 "climbing lanes" at Mineola Hill in Montgomery County. The improvements would be helpful for the I-70 freight corridor, state officials said in a news release.

The grant is set to trigger a $301 million bonding program authorized by the Missouri legislature last session. The money will allow repairs or replacements on 215 more Missouri bridges.

Some in the legislature — including Sen. Dave Schatz, a Republican from Sullivan who served as president pro tem — have proposed increasing Missouri's motor fuel tax, currently set at 17 cents per gallon, as a long-term way of settling Missouri's road problems. Of the 50 states, only Alaska's gas tax is lower, according to the MODoT website.

But Missouri voters have repeatedly rejected such an option, past News-Leader reporting shows.

On Monday, the News-Leader reached out to Gov. Parson's office for comment on the ranking. Through a spokesperson, the governor said, "From day one, workforce development and infrastructure have been top priorities for our administration. To make Missouri more competitive, we are making strategic investments in these areas that will drive growth going forward.".

Trending Missouri news: