Rhode Island's Rankings in the
29th Annual Highway Report
Rhode Island’s highway system ranks 43rd in the nation in overall cost-effectiveness and condition.
According to the Annual Highway Report by Reason Foundation, this is a one-spot decline from last year’s ranking of 42nd.
In safety and condition categories, Rhode Island’s highways rank 6th in Rural Interstate Pavement Condition, 10th in Urban Interstate Pavement Condition, 49th in Rural Arterial Pavement Condition, 48th in Urban Arterial Pavement Condition, 47th in Structurally Deficient Bridges, 4th in Rural Fatality Rate, and 20th in Urban Fatality Rate. Rhode Island ranks 37th out of the 50 states in traffic congestion, and its drivers spend about 32 hours a year stuck in traffic congestion.
In spending and cost-effectiveness, Rhode Island ranks 31st in Capital and Bridge Disbursements, which are the costs of building new roads and bridges and widening existing ones. Rhode Island ranks 29th in Maintenance Disbursements, such as the costs of repaving roads and filling in potholes. Rhode Island’s Administrative Disbursements, including office spending that does not make its way to roads, rank 18th nationwide.
Compared to the previous report, the categories in which the state improved the most were Rural Fatality Rate (31st to 4th) and Maintenance Disbursements (35th to 29th). Rhode Island worsened the most in Urban Fatality Rate (2nd to 20th).
When compared to its neighboring states, Rhode Island’s overall highway performance is better than New York’s (47th) but worse than Connecticut’s (7th), New Hampshire’s (13th), Maine’s (16th), and Massachusetts’ (17th).
Comparing its overall performance to similarly populated states, Rhode Island ranks worse than Montana (22nd) and Delaware (32nd). “In terms of improving in the road condition and performance categories, Rhode Island should focus on improving its Rural and Urban Arterial Pavement Conditions and reducing the number of Structurally Deficient Bridges,” said Baruch Feigenbaum, lead author of the Foundation. “While the state performs strongly in Rural Fatality Rate (4th) and Rural Interstate Pavement Condition (6th), its poor rankings in bridge condition and arterial pavement quality highlight 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.