29th Annual Highway Report: Capital and Bridge Disbursements

Capital and bridge disbursements are the costs to build new, and widen existing, highways and bridges. Capital and bridge disbursements for state-owned roads equal 52.9% of total disbursements, totaling $93.57 billion in 2023, 19% more than what was spent in 2022 ($78.68 billion).

In 2019, we measured capital and bridge disbursements per lane-mile. For 2018, we measured capital and bridge disbursements per centerline-mile, lane-mile, and vehicle-miles traveled (VMT) per lane-mile. This year we measured disbursements per lane adjusted for urbanization, the same process that we’ve used the past two years. For the calculations, we take the disbursement per lane-mile and divide it by the expected disbursement per lane-mile to get a ratio. The average 2023 lane-mile 2023 Rank Expected Disbursement Adjusted Ratio (Table 7, Capital and Bridge Disbursements by State, 2023, decade-long trend of steady increases in spending. Since 2015, total capital and bridge disbursements have increased about 25%, similar to the Consumer Price Index (CPI), which has increased about 28%.

In 2023, South Carolina, Virginia, Missouri, West Virginia, and Delaware reported the lowest capital and bridge expenditure ratios, after adjusting for urbanization. Washington, Alaska, Idaho, Kansas, and Indiana reported the highest expenditure ratios. Compared to 2022, the states whose ratio increased by the highest percentage were New Hampshire, Mississippi, Kansas, Missouri, and Ohio (25%, 24%, 32%, 18%, and 15% respectively). The states that improved the most were Hawaii (30%), Alabama (29%), Utah (28%), Colorado (28%), and Massachusetts (22%). The disbursements per state-controlled lane-mile can vary widely from year to year reflecting funding actions and project schedules.