Minnesota's Rankings in the
29th Annual Highway Report
Minnesota’s highway system ranks 11th in the nation in overall cost-effectiveness and condition.
According to the Annual Highway Report by Reason Foundation, that is a four-spot decline from last year’s ranking of 7th.
In safety and condition categories, Minnesota’s highways rank 9th in Rural Interstate Pavement Condition, 16th in Urban Interstate Pavement Condition, 22nd in Rural Arterial Pavement Condition, 3rd in Urban Arterial Pavement Condition, 11th in Structurally Deficient Bridges, 5th in Rural Fatality Rate, and 1st in Urban Fatality Rate. Minnesota ranks 24th out of the 50 states in traffic congestion, and its drivers spend about 18 hours a year stuck in traffic congestion.
In spending and cost-effectiveness, Minnesota ranks 32nd in Capital and Bridge Disbursements, which are the costs of building new roads and bridges and widening existing ones. Minnesota ranks 43rd in Maintenance Disbursements, such as the costs of repaving roads and filling in potholes. Minnesota’s Administrative Disbursements, including office spending that does not make its way to roads, rank 32nd nationwide.
Compared to the previous report, the categories in which the state improved the most were Urbanized Area Congestion (29th to 24th) and Urban Fatality Rate (2nd to 1st). Minnesota worsened the most in Maintenance Disbursements (36th to 43rd).
When compared to its neighboring states, Minnesota’s overall highway performance is better than South Dakota’s (28th), Wisconsin’s (31st), and Iowa’s (35th), but worse than North Dakota’s (6th) and Nebraska’s (29th).
Comparing its overall performance to similarly populated states, Minnesota ranks better than Colorado (42nd) but worse than South Carolina (3rd). “In terms of improving in the road condition and performance categories, Minnesota should focus on reducing its Maintenance Disbursements and Other Disbursements while maintaining its strong safety metrics,” said Baruch Feigenbaum, lead author of the 29th Annual Highway Report and senior managing director of transportation policy at Reason Foundation. “The state performs strongly in Urban Fatality Rate (1st), Urban Other Principal Arterial Pavement Condition (3rd), and Rural Fatality Rate (5th), but its weak performance in maintenance spending suggests room for improvement.”
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.