Washington ranks 43rd in the nation in highway performance and cost-effectiveness in the Annual Highway Report by Reason Foundation.
Washington ranks 4th in fatality rate, 37th in deficient bridges, 47th in rural Interstate pavement condition, 33rd in urban Interstate pavement condition, and 43rd in urbanized area congestion.
On spending, Washington ranks 41st in total disbursements per mile and 27th in administrative disbursements per mile.
Washington’s best rankings are fatality rate (4th), rural arterial pavement condition (27th), and administrative disbursements per mile (27th).
Washington’s worst rankings are rural Interstate pavement condition (47th) and capital-bridge disbursements per mile (47th).
Washington’s state-controlled highway mileage makes it the 16th largest system.
| Washington’s Complete Results | Ranking |
|---|---|
| Overall Rank in 2013: | 43 |
| Overall Rank in 2012: | 42 |
| Overall Rank in 2011: | 42 |
| Performance by Category in 2013 | Ranking |
|---|---|
| Total Disbursement per Mile | 41 |
| Capital-Bridge disbursements per mile | 47 |
| Maintenance disbursements per mile | 37 |
| Administrative disbursements per mile | 27 |
| Rural Interstate Percent Poor Condition | 47 |
| Rural Other Principal Arterial Percent Poor Condition | 27 |
| Rural Other Principal Arterial Percent Narrow Lanes | 44 |
| Urban Interstate Percent Poor Condition | 33 |
| Urbanized Area Congestion, Annual Delay Per Auto Commuter | 43 |
| Bridges Percent Deficient | 37 |
| Fatality Rate per 100 Million Vehicle-Miles of Travel | 4 |
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.