North Carolina's Rankings in the
29th Annual Highway Report
North Carolina’s highway system ranks 4th in the nation in overall cost-effectiveness and condition.
According to the Annual Highway Report by Reason Foundation, this is a three-spot decline from last year’s ranking of 1st.
In safety and condition categories, North Carolina’s highways rank 20th in Rural Interstate Pavement Condition, 23rd in Urban Interstate Pavement Condition, 20th in Rural Arterial Pavement Condition, 14th in Urban Arterial Pavement Condition, 33rd in Structurally Deficient Bridges, 31st in Rural Fatality Rate, and 16th in Urban Fatality Rate. North Carolina ranks 30th out of the 50 states in traffic congestion, and its drivers spend about 24 hours a year stuck in traffic congestion.
In spending and cost-effectiveness, North Carolina ranks 8th in Capital and Bridge Disbursements, which are the costs of building new roads and bridges and widening existing ones. North Carolina ranks 7th in Maintenance Disbursements, such as the costs of repaving roads and filling in potholes. North Carolina’s Administrative Disbursements, including office spending that does not make its way to roads, rank 3rd nationwide.
Compared to the previous report, the categories in which the state improved the most were Rural Fatality Rate (39th to 31st) and Other Fatality Rate (39th to 33rd). North Carolina worsened the most in Urbanized Area Congestion (21st to 30th).
When compared to its neighboring states, North Carolina’s overall highway performance is worse than Virginia’s (1st), Georgia’s (2nd), and South Carolina’s (3rd), but better than Tennessee’s (12th) and Florida’s (14th).
Comparing its overall performance to similarly populated states, North Carolina ranks worse than Georgia (2nd) but better than Michigan (23rd). “In terms of improving in the road condition and performance categories, North Carolina should focus on reducing its Rural and Other Fatality Rates as well as reducing the percentage of Structurally Deficient Bridges,” said Baruch Feigenbaum, lead author of the Foundation. “The state performs strongly in Administrative Disbursements (3rd), Capital and Bridge Disbursements (8th), and Maintenance Disbursements (7th), but its weaker rankings in bridge condition, fatality rate, and traffic congestion highlight 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.