Wisconsin's Rankings in the
28th Annual Highway Report
Wisconsin’s highway system ranks 26th in the nation in overall cost-effectiveness and condition.
According to the Annual Highway Report by Reason Foundation, this is a seven-spot improvement from Wisconsin’s ranking of 33rd overall in the last evaluation of the condition, safety, and costs of roads and bridges in all 50 states.
In safety and condition categories, Wisconsin’s highways rank 33rd in urban Interstate pavement condition, 30th in rural Interstate pavement condition, 44th in urban arterial pavement condition, 39th in rural arterial pavement condition, 27th in structurally deficient bridges, 10th in urban fatality rate, and 7th in rural fatality rate.
Wisconsin ranks 24th out of the 50 states in traffic congestion, and its drivers spend 17 hours a year stuck in traffic congestion.
In spending and cost-effectiveness, Wisconsin ranks 24th in capital and bridge disbursements, which are the costs of building new roads and bridges and widening existing ones. Wisconsin ranks 10th in maintenance spending, such as the costs of repaving roads and filling in potholes. Wisconsin’s administrative disbursements, including office spending that doesn’t make its way to roads, ranks 24th nationwide.
The categories in which the state improved the most from the previous report were other fatality rate (21st to 10th) and maintenance disbursements (21st to 10th).
Wisconsin worsened the most in urbanized area congestion (13th to 24th).
Compared to neighboring and nearby states, Wisconsin’s overall highway performance is better than Iowa’s (31st) and Illinois’ (36th), but worse than Minnesota’s (7th).
Comparing its overall performance to similarly populated states, Wisconsin ranks better than both Maryland (32nd) and Colorado (43rd).
Wisconsin’s highway system ranks 26th out of 50 states overall this year, ranked 31st in last year’s report, and was 38th in the nation five years ago, in 2019.
“In terms of improving in the road condition and performance categories, Wisconsin should focus on reducing other disbursements and improving both rural and urban arterial pavement condition. The state ranks in the bottom 15 in all three categories,” 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 should also be a priority for Wisconsin, as the state ranks in the bottom half of states 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.