Florida's Rankings in the
29th Annual Highway Report
Florida’s highway system ranks 14th in the nation in overall cost- effectiveness and condition.
According to the Annual Highway Report by Reason Foundation, this is the same ranking as last year.
In safety and condition categories, Florida’s highways rank 2nd in Rural Interstate Pavement Condition, 6th in Urban Interstate Pavement Condition, 7th in Rural Arterial Pavement Condition, 5th in Urban Arterial Pavement Condition, 9th in Structurally Deficient Bridges, 32nd in Rural Fatality Rate, and 46th in Urban Fatality Rate. Florida ranks 40th out of the 50 states in traffic congestion, and its drivers spend about 37 hours a year stuck in traffic congestion.
In spending and cost-effectiveness, Florida ranks 43rd in Capital and Bridge Disbursements, which are the costs of building new roads and bridges and widening existing ones. Florida ranks 34th in Maintenance Disbursements, such as the costs of repaving roads and filling in potholes. Florida’s Administrative Disbursements, including office spending that does not make its way to roads, rank 19th nationwide.
Compared to the previous report, the categories in which the state improved the most were Other Disbursements (23rd to 13th) and Other Fatality Rate (27th to 20th). Florida worsened the most in Maintenance Disbursements (25th to 34th).
When compared to its neighboring states, Florida’s overall highway performance is worse than Georgia’s (2nd), South Carolina’s (3rd), and Alabama’s (8th), but better than Mississippi’s (24th), and Louisiana’s (46th).
Comparing its overall performance to similarly populated states, Florida ranks better than Texas (27th) and New York (47th). “In terms of improving in the road condition and performance categories, Florida should focus on reducing its urban fatality rate and capital and bridge disbursements,” said Baruch Feigenbaum, lead author of the 29th Annual Highway Report and senior managing director of transportation policy at Reason Foundation. “While the state performs strongly in pavement condition and bridge quality, its high Urban Fatality Rate (46th) and spending inefficiencies present ongoing challenges.”
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.