Maryland's Rankings in the
29th Annual Highway Report
Maryland’s highway system ranks 34th in the nation in overall cost-effectiveness and condition.
According to the Annual Highway Report by Reason Foundation, this is a two-spot decline from last year’s ranking of 32nd.
In safety and condition categories, Maryland’s highways rank 30th in Rural Interstate Pavement Condition, 43rd in Urban Interstate Pavement Condition, 30th in Rural Arterial Pavement Condition 43rd in Urban Arterial Pavement Condition, 13th in Structurally Deficient Bridges, 1st in Rural Fatality Rate, and 32nd in Urban Fatality Rate. Maryland ranks 43rd out of the 50 states in traffic congestion, and its drivers spend about 44 hours a year stuck in traffic congestion.
In spending and cost-effectiveness, Maryland ranks 20th in Capital and Bridge Disbursements, which are the costs of building new roads and bridges and widening existing ones. Maryland ranks 32nd in Maintenance Disbursements, such as the costs of repaving roads and filling in potholes. Maryland’s Administrative Disbursements, including office spending that does not make its way to roads, rank 36th nationwide.
Compared to the previous report, the categories in which the state improved the most were Other Disbursements (47th to 42nd) and Rural Other Principal Arterial Pavement Condition (35th to 30th). Maryland worsened the most in Administrative Disbursements (22nd to 36th).
When compared to its neighboring states, Maryland’s overall highway performance is worse than Virginia’s (1st), West Virginia’s (30th), and Delaware’s (32nd), but better than Pennsylvania’s (36th) and New Jersey’s (40th).
Comparing its overall performance to similarly populated states, Maryland ranks worse than Missouri (9th) and Wisconsin (31st). “In terms of improving in the road condition and performance categories, Maryland should focus on improving its Urban Interstate Pavement Condition, improving its Urban Arterial Pavement Condition, and reducing its Urbanized Area Congestion,” 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 Rural Fatality Rate (1st) and Structurally Deficient Bridges (13th), its persistently poor urban pavement condition and congestion rankings remain significant 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.