Mississippi's Rankings in the
29th Annual Highway Report
Mississippi’s highway system ranks 24th in the nation in overall cost-effectiveness and condition.
According to the Annual Highway Report by Reason Foundation, this is a six-spot decline from last year’s ranking of 18th.
In safety and condition categories, Mississippi’s highways rank 34th in Rural Interstate Pavement Condition, 37th in Urban Interstate Pavement Condition, 34th in Rural Arterial Pavement Condition, 29th in Urban Arterial Pavement Condition, 26th in Structurally Deficient Bridges, 37th in Rural Fatality Rate, and 48th in Urban Fatality Rate. Mississippi ranks 12th out of the 50 states in traffic congestion, and its drivers spend about 14 hours a year stuck in traffic congestion.
In spending and cost-effectiveness, Mississippi ranks 21st in Capital and Bridge Disbursements, which are the costs of building new roads and bridges and widening existing ones. Mississippi ranks 2nd in Maintenance Disbursements, such as the costs of repaving roads and filling in potholes. Mississippi’s Administrative Disbursements, including office spending that does not make its way to roads, rank 8th nationwide.
Compared to the previous report, the categories in which the state improved the most were Maintenance Disbursements (5th to 2nd) and Administrative Disbursements (10th to 8th). Mississippi worsened the most in Other Fatality Rate (30th to 47th).
When compared to its neighboring states, Mississippi’s overall highway performance is better than Louisiana’s (46th), but worse than Alabama’s (8th), Tennessee’s (12th), Arkansas’ (21st), and Texas’ (27th).
Comparing its overall performance to similarly populated states, Mississippi ranks worse than Kansas (19th) but better than New Mexico (39th). “In terms of improving in the road condition and performance categories, Mississippi should focus on reducing all three of its Fatality Rates and improving Urban Interstate 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 strongly in Maintenance Disbursements (2nd), Administrative Disbursements (8th), and Other Disbursements (12th), its poor safety rankings and pavement quality in urban areas remain 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.