29th Annual Highway Report: Rural Interstate Pavement Condition

Rural Interstates are typically four- to six- lane highways connecting urban areas. One measurement of roadway condition is pavement condition. In most states, road pavement condition is measured using special machines that determine the roughness of road surfaces. A few states continue to use visual ratings, which are then converted to roughness. In 2023, about 2.19% of U.S. rural Interstates—638 miles out of 29,117—was reported to be in poor condition. (Table 11, Percent Rural Interstate Mileage in Poor Condition, 2023, Figure 6). This is similar to 2022, the last time this assessment was completed, when 594 miles out of 29,311 (2.03%) miles of rural Interstate pavement were rated poor.

Rural interstate mileage in poor condition varies widely by state. Between 2022 and 2023, the percentage of poor rural Interstate mileage decreased in 21 states, increased in 28 states, and remained the same in one state. In 2023, 19 states reported less than 1% poor-condition mileage. On the other hand, four states (Alaska, California, Colorado, and Arizona) all reported greater than 5% poor- condition mileage. Those four states have about 12.5% of U.S. rural Interstate mileage (3,627 miles out of 29,117) but have 44% of the poor-condition mileage.

In 2023, Connecticut, Florida, Maine, South Dakota, and New Hampshire had the lowest percent of rural Interstate pavement in poor condition. Alaska, California, Colorado, Arizona, and Louisiana had the most. Compared to 2022, the states that decreased poor-condition miles the most were Massachusetts, New York, Vermont, Michigan, and Arkansas (1.61%, 1.33%, 0.78%, 0.58% and 0.57% respectively). The states with the highest increase in poor- condition miles were California (2.40%), Arizona (1.79%), Alaska (1.56%), Montana (0.97%), and Rhode Island (0.46%).

Delaware and Hawaii are the only states with no rural mileage in their Interstate systems.