Policy Study

New York Ranks 44th in the Nation in Highway Performance and Cost-Effectiveness

New York’s best rankings are in overall fatality rate, urban fatality rate, and urban area congestion.

New York’s highway system ranks 44th in the nation in overall cost-effectiveness and condition, according to the Annual Highway Report by Reason Foundation. This is a one-spot improvement from the previous report, where New York ranked 45th overall.

In safety and performance categories, New York ranks 5th in overall fatality rate, 39th in structurally deficient bridges, 29th in traffic congestion, 42nd in urban Interstate pavement condition, and 40th in rural Interstate pavement condition.

On spending, New York ranks 44th in total spending per mile and 39th in capital and bridge costs per mile.

“To improve in the rankings, New York needs to reduce its spending and improve its Interstate pavement condition. New York is in the bottom 20 in all four disbursement categories and both Interstate pavement metrics. Compared to neighboring states, the report finds New York’s overall highway performance is better than New Jersey (ranks 50th), but worse than Connecticut (ranks 35th) and Vermont (ranks 30th),” said Baruch Feigenbaum, lead author of the Annual Highway Report and senior managing director of transportation policy at Reason Foundation. “New York is doing worse than comparable states like Illinois (ranks 37th) and Pennsylvania (ranks 39th).”

New York’s best rankings are in overall fatality rate (5th) and its urban fatality rate (5th).

New York’s worst rankings are maintenance disbursements per mile (48th) and urban arterial pavement condition (46th).

New York’s state-controlled highway mileage makes it the 16th 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.

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.