Ohio's Rankings in the
25th Annual Highway Report
Ohio's Overall Ranking in Recent Annual Highway Reports
Ohio’s highway system ranks 13th in the nation in overall cost-effectiveness and condition, according to the Annual Highway Report by Reason Foundation. This is a five-spot improvement from the previous report, where Ohio ranked 18th overall.
In safety and performance categories, Ohio ranks 13th in overall fatality rate, 19th in structurally deficient bridges, 21st in traffic congestion, 29th in urban Interstate pavement condition, and 29th in rural Interstate pavement condition.
On spending, Ohio ranks 21st in total spending per mile and 22nd in capital and bridge costs per mile.
“To improve in the rankings, Ohio needs to improve its pavement condition. The state ranks in the bottom 10 for urban arterial pavement condition and the bottom half for both urban and rural Interstate pavement condition. Compared to nearby states, the report finds Ohio’s overall highway performance is better than Indiana (ranks 32nd) and Pennsylvania (ranks 39th), but worse than Kentucky (ranks 3rd),” said Baruch Feigenbaum, lead author of the Annual Highway Report and senior managing director of transportation policy at Reason Foundation. “Ohio is doing better than comparable states like Michigan (ranks 24th) and Illinois (ranks 37th).”
Ohio’s best rankings are in rural fatality rate (5th) and overall fatality rate (13th).
Ohio’s worst rankings are urban arterial pavement condition (42nd), rural Interstate pavement condition (29th), and urban Interstate pavement condition (29th).
Ohio’s state-controlled highway mileage makes it the 10th 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.