Alaska's Rankings in the
29th Annual Highway Report
Alaska’s highway system ranks 50th in the nation in overall cost- effectiveness and condition.
According to the Annual Highway Report by Reason Foundation, this is the same as last year’s ranking.
In safety and condition categories, Alaska’s highways rank 48th in Rural Interstate Pavement Condition, 8th in Urban Interstate Pavement Condition, 50th in Rural Arterial Pavement Condition, 16th in Urban Arterial Pavement Condition, 37th in Structurally Deficient Bridges, 50th in Rural Fatality Rate, and 11th in Urban Fatality Rate. Alaska ranks 10th out of the 50 states in traffic congestion, and its drivers spend about 13 hours a year stuck in traffic congestion.
In spending and cost-effectiveness, Alaska ranks 49th in Capital and Bridge Disbursements, which are the costs of building new roads and bridges and widening existing ones. Alaska ranks 45th in Maintenance Disbursements, such as the costs of repaving roads and filling in potholes. Alaska’s Administrative Disbursements, including office spending that does not make its way to roads, ranks 21st nationwide.
Compared to the previous report, the categories in which the state improved the most were Urban Fatality Rate (49th to 11th) and Other Disbursements (33rd to 28th). Alaska worsened the most in Maintenance Disbursements (from 40th to 45th).
When compared to nearby states, Alaska’s overall highway performance is worse than Montana’s (22nd), Idaho’s (26th), Oregon’s (33rd), Hawaii’s, (44th), and Washington’s (48th).
Comparing its overall performance to similarly populated states, Alaska ranks behind North Dakota (6th) and Vermont (38th). “In terms of improving in the road condition and performance categories, Alaska should focus on improving its Rural Other Principal Arterial Condition, Rural Fatality Rate, Capital and Bridge Disbursements, and Rural Interstate Pavement Condition. The state ranks in the bottom three in each of these categories,” said Baruch Feigenbaum, lead author of the 29th Annual Highway Report and senior managing director of transportation policy at Reason Foundation. “Alaska has unique weather and location challenges but needs to improve in multiple categories.” .
Reason Foundation’s 29th Annual Highway Report evaluates the cost-effectiveness and performance of state-controlled highways across 13 categories, including pavement and bridge conditions, traffic fatalities, congestion, and spending. In the performance categories, a rank of 1 indicates the best outcome—for example, the lowest fatality rate or the best pavement quality—while a rank of 50 represents the worst outcomes. In the cost-effectiveness categories, a rank of 1 means the state spends the least, while a rank of 50 indicates the highest relative spending. The report’s data are primarily based on information each state submitted to the Federal Highway Administration for 2023, supplemented by deficient bridge data from Better Roads and Bridges and congestion data from INRIX. For full methodology and data sources, see the complete 29th Annual Highway Report.