27th Annual Highway Report

Introduction

Reason’s 27^th Annual Highway Report rates state highway systems on cost versus quality using a method developed in the early 1990s by David T. Hartgen, Ph.D., who was emeritus professor at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. This method has since been refined by Hartgen, M. Gregory Fields, Ph.D., Baruch Feigenbaum, and Truong Bui. Since states have different budgets, system sizes, and traffic and geographic circumstances, their comparative performance depends on both system performance and the resources available. To determine relative performance across the country, state highway system budgets (per mile of responsibility) are compared with system performance, state by state. States with high ratings typically have better-than-average system conditions (good for road users) along with relatively low per-mile expenditures (good for taxpayers).

The following table shows the overall highway performance of the state highway systems using 2020 and 2021 data. This year’s leading states are Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia, and Connecticut. At the other end of the rankings are Alaska, New York, Hawaii, California, and Washington.

Similar to last year, the top-performing states are a mix of large and small states as well as states that are more urban and more rural (Tables 1, 2, 3, 4, and Figure 1). Five high-population states rank in the top 10 of the overall rankings: Virginia (1^st), North Carolina (2^nd), Tennessee (3^rd), Georgia (4^th), and Florida (8^th). Numerous factors—terrain, climate, truck volumes, urbanization, system age, budget priorities, unit cost differences, state budget circumstances, and management/maintenance philosophies— all affect overall performance. Some categories in the report cannot be compared to previous years due to methodological changes that also impacted the overall rankings of some states. These methodological changes are fully explained in Part 2 and the appendix of this report. The remainder of this report reviews the statistics underlying these overall ratings in more detail.

27th Annual Highway Report: Each State’s Highway Performance Ranking By Category

State	Overall	Capital & Bridge Disbursements Ratio	Maintenance Disbursements Ratio	Admin Disbursements Ratio	Other Disbursements Ratio	Rural Interstate Pavement Condition	Urban Interstate Pavement Condition	Rural Other Principal Arterial Pavement Condition	Urban Other Principal Arterial Pavement Condition	Urbanized Area Congestion	Structurally Deficient Bridges	Rural Fatality Rate	Urban Fatality Rate	Other Fatality Rate
Alabama	15	27	4	42	22	28	36	6	2	10	9	36	38	24
Alaska	50	49	47	27	24	48	12	50	9	15	35	44	41	5
Arizona	30	46	10	43	44	34	14	27	17	27	1	41	48	18
Arkansas	13	15	6	2	11	37	35	37	27	25	20	18	7	8
California	47	36	44	31	41	46	47	42	50	44	25	39	23	38
Colorado	43	28	43	40	12	47	40	26	31	31	21	32	36	20
Connecticut	5	12	16	16	9	13	8	21	28	42	22	25	11	17
Delaware	35	10	38	49	25	N/A	44	16	11	43	4	38	43	25
Florida	8	43	29	28	20	1	9	2	4	18	8	45	49	15
Georgia	4	8	13	34	7	18	5	8	3	40	6	35	37	33
Hawaii	48	25	20	21	8	N/A	50	48	33	26	33	49	39	1
Idaho	34	48	33	22	32	32	11	46	34	7	19	43	3	16
Illinois	29	34	27	11	19	26	34	44	32	45	38	14	26	28
Indiana	23	37	48	15	6	39	31	7	18	22	24	37	24	10
Iowa	31	42	23	17	21	30	33	39	29	2	49	10	22	26
Kansas	22	13	22	25	48	14	25	5	20	37	17	30	27	41
Kentucky	7	14	19	1	26	16	16	14	6	19	26	24	40	48
Louisiana	40	6	18	4	17	43	49	43	40	23	45	20	46	47
Maine	32	23	39	7	23	27	7	47	30	8	44	8	4	32
Maryland	24	30	26	23	39	23	42	25	41	34	14	1	25	22
Massachusetts	20	3	14	32	18	20	23	29	47	48	37	15	8	2
Michigan	27	20	12	13	15	41	43	19	42	35	42	5	28	31
Minnesota	12	33	40	33	38	17	27	15	1	39	12	2	2	4
Mississippi	18	17	3	10	14	29	26	23	26	27	29	46	45	49
Missouri	11	2	15	14	30	9	24	12	23	38	39	17	42	30
Montana	25	32	34	20	33	25	13	36	38	3	28	47	14	45
Nebraska	26	24	41	6	28	10	29	34	48	8	36	28	17	19
Nevada	21	44	24	47	36	2	17	1	12	11	2	48	32	7
New Hampshire	14	19	30	45	34	6	1	22	13	21	34	3	1	14
New Jersey	44	45	42	35	40	24	46	41	45	50	31	13	18	3
New Mexico	36	7	1	48	27	40	28	31	36	16	18	31	50	36
New York	49	47	46	36	50	38	48	32	46	49	40	7	19	9
North Carolina	2	11	8	8	5	15	15	10	7	11	30	22	20	39
North Dakota	9	38	5	12	35	7	2	28	24	4	43	19	5	23
Ohio	17	16	7	37	16	33	32	17	39	30	16	11	15	27
Oklahoma	45	41	45	41	37	35	38	40	25	41	41	33	35	44
Oregon	37	39	35	39	49	11	21	20	22	33	13	42	33	43
Pennsylvania	41	21	37	38	43	42	39	33	35	32	46	9	29	35
Rhode Island	42	22	31	29	3	3	18	49	49	46	48	26	16	13
South Carolina	6	5	2	3	2	19	3	24	8	17	23	50	30	46
South Dakota	28	18	36	46	29	8	4	18	19	5	47	29	31	37
Tennessee	3	9	11	26	1	12	10	13	10	29	11	23	47	40
Texas	19	31	17	9	31	22	30	9	37	47	3	40	34	42
Utah	10	40	32	18	47	4	20	11	5	13	5	16	13	6
Vermont	38	35	49	50	45	21	6	38	21	19	7	6	12	12
Virginia	1	1	28	19	10	5	19	3	16	24	10	27	10	29
Washington	46	50	50	44	46	45	22	30	44	35	15	4	6	34
West Virginia	39	4	9	5	4	44	45	45	14	6	50	21	21	50
Wisconsin	33	29	21	30	42	36	37	35	43	13	27	12	9	21
Wyoming	16	26	25	24	13	31	41	4	15	1	32	34	44	11