Nebraska's Rankings in the
29th Annual Highway Report
Nebraska’s highway system ranks 29th in the nation in overall cost-effectiveness and condition.
According to the Annual Highway Report by Reason Foundation, this is a one-spot improvement from last year’s ranking of 30th.
In safety and condition categories, Nebraska’s highways rank 12th in Rural Interstate Pavement Condition, 7th in Urban Interstate Pavement Condition, 44th in Rural Arterial Pavement Condition, 49th in Urban Arterial Pavement Condition, 35th in Structurally Deficient Bridges, 13th in Rural Fatality Rate, and 13th in Urban Fatality Rate. Nebraska ranks 23rd out of the 50 states in traffic congestion, and its drivers spend about 17 hours a year stuck in traffic congestion.
In spending and cost-effectiveness, Nebraska ranks 26th in Capital and Bridge Disbursements, which are the costs of building new roads and bridges and widening existing ones. Nebraska ranks 30th in Maintenance Disbursements, such as the costs of repaving roads and filling in potholes. Nebraska’s Administrative Disbursements, including office spending that does not make its way to roads, rank 25th nationwide.
Compared to the previous report, the categories in which the state improved the most were Urban Interstate Pavement Condition (25th to 7th) and Urban Fatality Rate (31st to 13th). Nebraska worsened the most in Rural Other Principal Arterial Pavement Condition (35th to 44th).
When compared to its neighboring states, Nebraska’s overall highway performance is better than Iowa’s (35th) and Colorado’s (42nd), but worse than Missouri’s (9th), Wyoming’s (20th), and South Dakota’s (28th).
Comparing its overall performance to similarly populated states, Nebraska ranks better than New Mexico (39th) but worse than Idaho (26th). “In terms of improving in the road condition and performance categories, Nebraska should focus on improving its Rural and Urban Arterial Pavement Conditions and reducing the percentage of Structurally Deficient Bridges,” said Baruch Feigenbaum, lead author of the Foundation. “The state performs strongly in Urban Interstate Pavement Condition (7th), Rural Interstate Pavement Condition (12th), and Rural Fatality Rate (13th), but its poor rankings in arterial pavement condition and bridge quality remain key areas 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.