Policy Study

Connecticut Ranks 35th in the Nation in Highway Performance and Cost-Effectiveness

Connecticut’s best rankings are rural Interstate pavement condition, rural fatality rate, overall fatality rate, and urban Interstate pavement condition.

Connecticut’s highway system ranks 35th in the nation in overall cost-effectiveness and condition, according to the Annual Highway Report by Reason Foundation. This is a nine-spot improvement from the previous report, where Connecticut ranked 44th overall.

In safety and performance categories, Connecticut ranks 12th in overall fatality rate, 26th in structurally deficient bridges, 28th in traffic congestion, 12th in urban Interstate pavement condition, and 1st in rural Interstate pavement condition.

On spending, Connecticut ranks 42nd in total spending per mile and 43th in capital and bridge costs per mile.

“To improve in the rankings, Connecticut needs to reduce its spending. Connecticut is in the bottom 15 states in three of the four disbursement categories (total, capital and bridge, and administrative). Compared to nearby states, the report finds Connecticut’s overall highway performance is better than New York (ranks 44th) and Massachusetts (ranks 47th), but worse than New Hampshire (ranks 29th),” said Baruch Feigenbaum, lead author of the Annual Highway Report and senior managing director of transportation policy at Reason Foundation. “Connecticut is doing better than comparable states like New Jersey (ranks 50th) and Rhode Island (ranks 46th).”

Connecticut’s best rankings are rural Interstate pavement condition (1st) and rural fatality rate (12th).

Connecticut’s worst rankings are in capital and bridge disbursements per mile (43rd) and total disbursements per mile (42nd).

Connecticut’s state-controlled highway mileage makes it the 44th largest highway system in the country.

Reason Foundation’s Annual Highway Report measures the condition and cost-effectiveness of state-controlled highways in 13 categories, including pavement condition, traffic congestion, structurally deficient bridges, traffic fatalities, and spending (capital, maintenance, administrative, overall) per mile.

The Annual Highway Report is based on spending and performance data submitted by state highway agencies to the federal government for 2018 as well as urban congestion data from INRIX and bridge condition data from the Better Roads inventory for 2019.