Hawaii's Rankings in the
29th Annual Highway Report
Hawaii’s highway system ranks 44th in the nation in overall cost-effectiveness and condition.
According to the Annual Highway Report by Reason Foundation, this is a four-spot improvement from last year’s ranking of 48th.
In safety and condition categories, Hawaii’s highways rank 50th in Urban Interstate Pavement Condition, 48th in Rural Arterial Pavement Condition, 40th in Urban Arterial Pavement Condition, 30th in Structurally Deficient Bridges, 48th in Rural Fatality Rate, and 40th in Urban Fatality Rate. (Hawaii has no rural Interstate Pavement Condition). Hawaii ranks 20th out of the 50 states in traffic congestion, and its drivers spend about 16 hours a year stuck in traffic congestion.
In spending and cost-effectiveness, Hawaii ranks 9th in Capital and Bridge Disbursements, which are the costs of building new roads and bridges and widening existing ones. Hawaii ranks 9th in Maintenance Disbursements, such as the costs of repaving roads and filling in potholes. Hawaii’s Administrative Disbursements, including office spending that does not make its way to roads, rank 29th nationwide.
Compared to the previous report, the categories in which the state improved the most were Capital and Bridge Disbursements (20th to 9th) and Other Disbursements (14th to 6th). Hawaii worsened the most in Rural Other Principal Arterial Pavement Condition (43rd to 48th).
When compared to its neighboring states, Hawaii’s overall highway performance is better than Washington’s (48th), California’s (49th), and Alaska’s (50th), but worse than Oregon’s (33rd) and Nevada’s (25th).
Comparing its overall performance to similarly populated states, Hawaii ranks worse than New Hampshire (13th) and West Virginia (30th). “In terms of improving in the road condition and performance categories, Hawaii should focus on improving its Urban Interstate Pavement Condition and Rural Other Principal Arterial Pavement Condition,” 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 well in Capital and Bridge Disbursements (9th), Maintenance Disbursements (9th), and Other Disbursements (6th), its poor pavement conditions and high fatality rates continue to be areas of concern.” Rural Interstate Pavement Condition N/A
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.