Massachusetts's Rankings in the
28th Annual Highway Report
Massachusetts’ highway system ranks 40th in the nation in overall cost-effectiveness and condition.
According to the Annual Highway Report by Reason Foundation, this is a 20-spot fall from Massachusetts’ ranking of 20th overall in the last evaluation of the condition, safety, and costs of roads and bridges in all 50 states.
In safety and condition categories, Massachusetts’ highways rank 28th in urban Interstate pavement condition, 24th in rural Interstate pavement condition, 46th in urban arterial pavement condition, 33rd in rural arterial pavement condition, 37th in structurally deficient bridges, 8th in urban fatality rate, and 24th in rural fatality rate.
Massachusetts ranks 49th out of the 50 states in traffic congestion, and its drivers spend 95 hours a year stuck in traffic congestion.
In spending and cost-effectiveness, Massachusetts ranks 12th in capital and bridge disbursements, which are the costs of building new roads and bridges and widening existing ones. Massachusetts ranks 41st in maintenance spending, such as the costs of repaving roads and filling in potholes. Massachusetts’ administrative disbursements, including office spending that doesn’t make its way to roads, ranks 43rd nationwide.
The category in which the state improved the most from the previous report was urban arterial pavement condition (47th to 46th).
Massachusetts worsened the most in maintenance disbursements (14th to 41st).
Compared to neighboring and nearby states, Massachusetts’ overall highway performance is better than Rhode Island’s (42nd), Vermont’s (44th), and New York’s (45th) but worse than Connecticut’s (13th) and New Hampshire’s (19th).
Comparing its overall performance to similarly populated states, Massachusetts ranks behind Tennessee (5th) and Indiana (20th).
Massachusetts’ highway system ranks 40th out of 50 states overall this year, ranked 20th in last year’s report, and was 46th in the nation five years ago, in 2019.
“In terms of improving in the road condition and performance categories, Massachusetts should focus on reducing urbanized area congestion and improving its urban arterial pavement condition. The state ranks in the bottom five in both categories, its worst rankings by far,” said Baruch Feigenbaum, lead author of the 28th Annual Highway Report and senior managing director of transportation policy at Reason Foundation. “Reducing the percentage of structurally deficient bridges in Massachusetts ought to be a priority, as the state ranks in the bottom 15 in bridges.”
Reason Foundation’s 28th Annual Highway Report measures the condition and cost-effectiveness of state-controlled highways in 13 categories, including pavement and bridge conditions, traffic fatalities, and spending. In the performance categories, ranking first implies the state has the best or lowest fatality rate and its road pavement is in the best condition. A ranking of 50th in performance categories means the state has the worst fatality rates or pavement conditions. In simplified terms, in the cost-effectiveness categories, a rank of 50 means the state spends more money, and a first-place ranking means the state spends less money than other states in that category.
The report’s data are primarily information each state directly reported to the Federal Highway Administration for 2022. Better Roads and Bridges provides the deficient bridge data, and the Texas A&M Transportation Institute provides the traffic congestion data.
Please see the complete 28th Annual Highway Report for detailed methodology and a comprehensive list of data sources.