According To Survey Road Conditions Have Improved
According to the Reason Foundation’s Annual Report, road conditions across the country have generally improved in 11 categories including pavement condition, urban traffic congestion and deficient bridges. The study’s is based on data states reported to the federal government in 2009. This is the most recent year with full spending statistics available.
The 11 categories measured in this report included pavement condition on urban and rural interstates, urban traffic congestion, deficient bridges, unsafe narrow lanes, traffic fatalities, total spending per mile of state roads and administrative costs per mile. There was small progress nationwide on every category except for pavement condition on rural arterial roads.
Even though there have been improvements states such as New Jersey and California are still plagued with problems. New Jersey spends 1.2 million per mile on state controlled roads while California spends the next biggest amount at $679,00 per mile. More than 16% of urban state pavement in each of those states is in poor condition. Only Hawaii ranks worse with 27% of its urban interstate pavement rated as poor.
California’s other issue is traffic congestion. 80 % of the states urban interstates are congested. Minnesota has the next highest percentage of congestion as 78 % of the urban interstates are deemed congested.
As far as overall ratings of all states in terms of road conditions and cost effectiveness, North Dakota has the country’s top ranked state controlled road system followed by Kansas and Wyoming. The lowest ranked state was Alaska, preceeded by Rhode Island and Hawaii. A complete list of state ranks is attached below :
- North Dakota
- Kansas
- Wyoming
- New Mexico
- Montana
- Nebraska
- South Carolina
- Missouri
- South Dakota
- Mississippi
- Texas
- Georgia
- Oregon
- Kentucky
- Virginia
- Nevada
- Idaho
- New Hampshire
- North Carolina
- Delaware
- Tennessee
- Indiana
- Arizona
- Washington
- Ohio
- Utah
- Alabama
- Vermont
- Maine
- Michigan
- Wisconsin
- West Virginia
- Iowa
- Illinois
- Louisiana
- Arkansas
- Florida
- Oklahoma
- Pennsylvania
- Maryland
- Colorado
- Minnesota
- Massachusetts
- Connecticut
- New York
- New Jersey
- California
- Hawaii
- Rhode Island
- Alaska