Oklahoma's Rankings in the
29th Annual Highway Report
Oklahoma’s highway system ranks 45th 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 39th.
In safety and condition categories, Oklahoma’s highways rank 31st in Rural Interstate Pavement Condition, 39th in Urban Interstate Pavement Condition, 45th in Rural Arterial Pavement Condition, 30th in Urban Arterial Pavement Condition, 36th in Structurally Deficient Bridges, 24th in Rural Fatality Rate, and 44th in Urban Fatality Rate. Oklahoma ranks 16th out of the 50 states in traffic congestion, and its drivers spend about 15 hours a year stuck in traffic congestion.
In spending and cost-effectiveness, Oklahoma ranks 38th in Capital and Bridge Disbursements, which are the costs of building new roads and bridges and widening existing ones. Oklahoma ranks 48th in Maintenance Disbursements, such as the costs of repaving roads and filling in potholes. Oklahoma’s Administrative Disbursements, including office spending that does not make its way to roads, rank 42nd nationwide.
Compared to the previous report, the categories in which the state improved the most were Structurally Deficient Bridges (41st to 36th) and Rural Interstate Pavement Condition (36th to 31st). Oklahoma worsened the most in Urban Fatality Rate (30th to 44th).
When compared to its neighboring states, Oklahoma’s overall highway performance is worse than Missouri’s (9th), Arkansas’ (21st), Texas’ (27th), New Mexico’s (39th) and Colorado’s (42nd).
Comparing its overall performance to similarly populated states, Oklahoma ranks worse than Connecticut (7th) and Oregon (33rd). “In terms of improving in the road condition and performance categories, Oklahoma should focus on reducing its Maintenance Disbursements and improving its Rural Arterial Pavement Condition while reducing Urban and Other Fatality rates,” 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 moderately well in Urbanized Area Congestion (16th) and Rural Fatality Rate (24th), its high costs and poor pavement quality remain significant 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.