Policy Study

Urban Interstate Pavement Condition — 24th Annual Highway Report

Percent Urban Interstate Mileage in Poor Condition 24th Annual Highway Report

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1 to 10 Very Good 11 to 20 Good 21 to 30 Average 31 to 40 Bad 41 to 50 Very Bad 

The urban Interstates consist of major multi-lane Interstates in and near urbanized areas. The pavement condition of the urban Interstate system worsened from 2015 to 2016, increasing from 5.02% in poor condition to 5.18% (Table 12, Percent Urban Interstate Mileage in Poor Condition, 2016, Figure 7). In 2016, 958 of the 18,505 miles of urban Interstates were rated as poor, as compared to 940 poor-condition miles out of 18,730 miles in 2015, the last time this assessment was completed.

Between 2015 and 2016, the percentage of poor urban Interstate mileage increased in 29 states, decreased in 20 states and remained about the same in the one remaining state. The percent of poor mileage changed less than one percentage point in 35 of the states. Hawaii and Rhode Island led the states in reducing poor- condition mileage (by 3.3 and 2.8 percentage points, respectively) while Delaware and California led the states in increasing poor- condition mileage (by 10.3 and 3.4 percentage points, respectively).

The condition of urban Interstate miles also varies widely by state. In 2016, two states (North Dakota and Vermont) reported no poor mileage and two other states (New Mexico and Illinois) reported less than 1% in poor condition. The bottom five states (Hawaii, Louisiana, Delaware, California and New York) reported more than 10% poor mileage. These five states, collectively, only have about 14% of the urban Interstate mileage in the U.S. (3,004 of 18,730 miles) but have over 33% of the poor mileage (319 of 958 miles).

Table 12: Percent Urban Interstate Mileage in Poor Condition
RankStatePercent Urban Interstate Mileage in Poor Condition
1North Dakota0.00
1Vermont0.00
3New Mexico0.66
4Illinois0.74
5Florida1.05
6Arizona1.19
7New Hampshire1.20
8South Dakota1.33
9Kansas1.77
10Rhode Island1.92
11Utah1.98
12Tennessee2.01
13Montana2.04
14Idaho2.17
15North Carolina2.20
16Kentucky2.27
17Missouri2.42
18Connecticut2.52
19Alaska2.56
20West Virginia2.61
21Georgia2.64
22Virginia2.76
23Oregon2.99
24Nebraska3.13
25Nevada3.33
26Maine3.41
27South Carolina3.95
28Colorado4.28
29Ohio4.30
30Alabama4.48
31Massachusetts4.59
32Pennsylvania4.75
33Texas5.44
34Wyoming5.66
35Wisconsin5.88
36Iowa5.92
37Mississippi5.93
38Washington6.27
39Maryland6.51
40Minnesota6.67
41Oklahoma7.37
42Michigan7.65
43Indiana7.81
44Arkansas9.68
45New Jersey9.84
46New York10.68
47California12.12
48Delaware12.20
49Louisiana12.90
50Hawaii21.82
Weighted Average5.18
View national trends and state-by-state performances by category:
overall
Overall
total-disbursements-per-mile
Total Disbursements Per Mile
capital-bridge-disbursements-per-mile
Capital & Bridge Disbursements Per Mile
maintenance-disbursements-per-mile
Maintenance Disbursements Per Mile
administrative-disbursements-per-mile
Administrative Disbursements Per Mile
rural-interstate-percent-poor-condition
Rural Interstate Pavement Condition
rural-other-principal-arterial-percent-narrow-lanes
Rural Arterial Pavement Condition
urban-interstate-percent-poor-condition
Urban Interstate Pavement Condition
urbanized-area-congestion-peak-hours-spent-in-congestion-per-auto-commuter
Urbanized Area Congestion
bridges-percent-deficient
Structurally Deficient Bridges
fatality-rate-per-100-million-vehicle-miles-of-travel
Overall Fatality Rate
fatality-rate-per-100-million-vehicle-miles-of-travel
Rural Fatality Rate
fatality-rate-per-100-million-vehicle-miles-of-travel
Urban Fatality Rate