Vermont's Rankings in the
29th Annual Highway Report
Vermont’s highway system ranks 38th in the nation in overall cost-effectiveness and condition.
According to the Annual Highway Report by Reason Foundation, this is a six-spot improvement from last year’s ranking of 44th.
In safety and condition categories, Vermont’s highways rank 18th in Rural Interstate Pavement Condition, 4th in Urban Interstate Pavement Condition, 43rd in Rural Arterial Pavement Condition, 25th in Urban Arterial Pavement Condition, 7th in Structurally Deficient Bridges, 10th in Rural Fatality Rate, and 7th in Urban Fatality Rate. Vermont ranks 6th out of the 50 states in traffic congestion, and its drivers spend about 13 hours a year stuck in traffic congestion.
In spending and cost-effectiveness, Vermont ranks 37th in Capital and Bridge Disbursements, which are the costs of building new roads and bridges and widening existing ones. Vermont ranks 47th in Maintenance Disbursements, such as the costs of repaving roads and filling in potholes. Vermont’s Administrative Disbursements, including office spending that does not make its way to roads, rank 50th nationwide.
Compared to the previous report, the categories in which the state improved the most were Rural Interstate Pavement Condition (31st to 18th) and Rural Other Principal Arterial Pavement Condition (48th to 43rd). Vermont worsened the most in Maintenance Disbursements (45th to 47th).
When compared to its neighboring states, Vermont’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, Vermont ranks better than Alaska (50th) but worse than Wyoming (20th). “In terms of improving in the road condition and performance categories, Vermont should focus on reducing Maintenance, Administrative, and Other Disbursements and improving Rural Arterial Pavement Condition,” 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 Urban Interstate Pavement Condition (4th), Structurally Deficient Bridges (7th), and Urbanized Area Congestion (6th), its bottom-tier rankings in spending efficiency and Rural Arterial Pavement Condition remain key 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.