Kentucky's Rankings in the
29th Annual Highway Report
Kentucky’s highway system ranks 15th in the nation in overall cost-effectiveness and condition.
According to the Annual Highway Report by Reason Foundation, this is a four-spot decline from last year’s ranking of 11th.
In safety and condition categories, Kentucky’s highways rank 24th in Rural Interstate Pavement Condition, 36th in Urban Interstate Pavement Condition, 15th in Rural Arterial Pavement Condition, 10th in Urban Arterial Pavement Condition, 32nd in Structurally Deficient Bridges, 11th in Rural Fatality Rate, and 42nd in Urban Fatality Rate. Kentucky ranks 27th out of the 50 states in traffic congestion, and its drivers spend about 22 hours a year stuck in traffic congestion.
In spending and cost-effectiveness, Kentucky ranks 15th in Capital and Bridge Disbursements, which are the costs of building new roads and bridges and widening existing ones. Kentucky ranks 23rd in Maintenance Disbursements, such as the costs of repaving roads and filling in potholes. Kentucky’s Administrative Disbursements, including office spending that does not make its way to roads, rank 1st nationwide.
Compared to the previous report, the categories in which the state improved the most were Rural Fatality Rate (17th to 11th) and Other Disbursements (31st to 24th). Kentucky worsened the most in Urban Fatality Rate (22nd to 42nd).
When compared to its neighboring states, Kentucky’s overall highway performance is better than Indiana’s (18th), West Virginia’s (30th), and Illinois’ (37th), but worse than Virginia’s (1st) and Tennessee’s (12th).
Comparing its overall performance to similarly populated states, Kentucky ranks better than Oregon (33rd) and Louisiana (46th). “In terms of improving in the road condition and performance categories, Kentucky should focus on improving its Urban Interstate Pavement Condition and reducing its Urban and Other Fatality Rates,” 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 Administrative Disbursements (1st) and Rural Fatality Rate (11th), its high fatality rates and declining urban pavement condition remain areas of concern.”
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.