Rhode Island ranks 47th in the nation in highway performance and cost-effectiveness in the Annual Highway Report by Reason Foundation.
Rhode Island ranks 7th in fatality rate, 50th in deficient bridges, 1st (tie) in rural Interstate pavement condition, 5th in urban Interstate pavement condition, and 32nd in urbanized area congestion.
On spending, Rhode Island ranks 45th in total disbursements per mile and 45th in administrative disbursements per mile.
Rhode Island’s best rankings are rural Interstate pavement condition (tied for 1st), urban Interstate pavement condition (5th), and fatality rate (7th).
Rhode Island’s worst rankings are deficient bridges (50th) and rural arterial pavement condition (49th).
Rhode Island’s state-controlled highway mileage makes it the 49th largest system.
| Rhode Island’s Complete Results | Ranking |
|---|---|
| Overall Rank in 2013: | 47 |
| Overall Rank in 2012: | 47 |
| Overall Rank in 2011: | 50 |
| Performance by Category in 2013 | Ranking |
|---|---|
| Total Disbursement per Mile | 45 |
| Capital-Bridge Disbursements per Mile | 45 |
| Maintenance Disbursements per Mile | 47 |
| Administrative Disbursements per Mile | 45 |
| Rural Interstate Percent Poor Condition | 1 |
| Rural Other Principal Arterial Percent Poor Condition | 49 |
| Rural Other Principal Arterial Percent Narrow Lanes | 34 |
| Urban Interstate Percent Poor Condition | 5 |
| Urbanized Area Congestion, Annual Delay Per Auto Commuter | 32 |
| Bridges Percent Deficient | 50 |
| Fatality Rate per 100 Million Vehicle-Miles of Travel | 7 |
The Annual Highway Report is based on spending and performance data submitted by state highway agencies to the federal government for 2013. For more details on the calculation of each of the 11 performance measures used in the report, as well as the overall performance measure, please refer to the appendix in the main report. The report’s dataset includes Interstate, federal and state roads but not county or local roads. All rankings are based on performance measures that are ratios rather than absolute values: the financial measures are disbursements per mile, the fatality rate is fatalities per 100 million vehicle-miles of travel, the urban congestion measure is the annual delay per auto commuter, and the others are percentages. For example, the state ranking 1st in deficient bridges has the smallest percentage of deficient bridges, not the smallest number of deficient bridges.
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