Ohio's Rankings in the
29th Annual Highway Report
Ohio’s highway system ranks 5th in the nation in overall cost- effectiveness and condition.
According to the Annual Highway Report by Reason Foundation, this is a five-spot improvement from last year’s ranking of 10th.
In safety and condition categories, Ohio’s highways rank 19th in Rural Interstate Pavement Condition, 25th in Urban Interstate Pavement Condition, 9th in Rural Arterial Pavement Condition 35th in Urban Arterial Pavement Condition, 14th in Structurally Deficient Bridges, 6th in Rural Fatality Rate, and 18th in Urban Fatality Rate. Ohio ranks 18th out of the 50 states in traffic congestion, and its drivers spend about 16 hours a year stuck in traffic congestion.
In spending and cost-effectiveness, Ohio ranks 10th in Capital and Bridge Disbursements, which are the costs of building new roads and bridges and widening existing ones. Ohio ranks 6th in Maintenance Disbursements, such as the costs of repaving roads and filling in potholes. Ohio’s Administrative Disbursements, including office spending that does not make its way to roads, rank 30th nationwide.
Compared to the previous report, the categories in which the state improved the most were Maintenance Disbursements (20th to 6th) and Urban Interstate Pavement Condition (32nd to 25th). Ohio worsened the most in Administrative Disbursements (18th to 30th).
When compared to its neighboring states, Ohio’s overall highway performance is better than Kentucky’s (15th), Indiana’s (18th), Michigan’s (23rd), West Virginia’s (30th), and Pennsylvania’s (36th).
Comparing its overall performance to similarly populated states, Ohio ranks worse than Georgia (2nd) but better than Illinois (37th). “In terms of improving in the road condition and performance categories, Ohio should focus on improving its Urban Arterial Pavement Condition and reducing Administrative Disbursements,” 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 (6th), Rural Fatality Rate (6th), and Rural Other Principal Arterial Pavement Condition (9th), its weaker performance in Urban Other Principal Arterial Pavement Condition and Administrative Disbursements remains an opportunity 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.