Latest news with #28thAnnualHighwayReport
Yahoo
17-03-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Washington highways among the worst in the nation, per report
This story was originally published on Washington state's highway system is among the worst in the United States, according to the Reason Foundation's 28th Annual Highway Report. The state ranked 47th overall in highway performance and cost-effectiveness, a slight drop from its 46th-place ranking in the previous year's evaluation. The annual report, which assesses the condition, safety, and cost-effectiveness of state-controlled highways in all 50 states, uses data primarily reported by each state to the Federal Highway Administration for 2022. It examines 13 categories, including pavement and bridge conditions, traffic fatalities, and spending. 'In terms of improving in the road condition and performance categories, Washington should focus on reducing capital-bridge disbursements, maintenance disbursements, and other disbursements. The state ranks 50th in all three categories,' said Baruch Feigenbaum, lead author of the 28th Annual Highway Report and senior managing director of transportation policy at Reason Foundation. 'The state performs better in the safety-focused categories but could still do to lower its other fatality rate, in which it ranks in the bottom 20.' The only states that performed worse than Washington were Hawaii, California, and Alaska. Related from MyNorthwest: WA drivers flooded with fake toll texts – here's how to protect yourself from the scam Why did Washington rank so poorly on highways? Washington's rankings varied across different categories. A significant area of concern is traffic congestion. Washington ranked 31st in the nation, with drivers spending an average of 28 hours per year stuck in traffic from Seattle to Spokane and Vancouver to Bellingham. The state performed relatively better in safety and condition categories, ranking 27th in urban Interstate pavement condition and 31st in structurally deficient bridges. However, it struggled in other areas, ranking 44th in rural Interstate pavement condition, 43rd in urban arterial pavement condition, and 25th in rural arterial pavement condition. Related from MyNorthwest: Washington faces transportation funding crisis but road usage charge still iffy proposition Money not-so-well-spent The report highlighted significant deficiencies in spending and cost-effectiveness, too. Washington ranked 50th in capital and bridge disbursements, which cover the costs of building new roads and bridges and widening existing ones. It also ranked 50th in maintenance spending, including expenses for repaving roads and filling potholes. Additionally, the state ranked 47th in administrative disbursements, which include office spending not directly allocated to road projects. 'In spending and cost-effectiveness, Washington ranks 50th in capital and bridge disbursements, which are the costs of building new roads and bridges and widening existing ones,' the report states. 'Washington ranks 50th in maintenance spending, such as the costs of repaving roads and filling in potholes. Washington's administrative disbursements, including office spending that doesn't make its way to roads, ranks 47th nationwide.' The state saw some improvement in rural arterial pavement condition, rising from 30th to 25th. Urbanized area congestion also improved, moving from 35th to 31st. However, the urban fatality rate worsened significantly, dropping from 6th to 27th. Related from MyNorthwest: WSDOT could prevent snow-related crashes at the Snoqualmie Pass, says Cliff Mass How does Washington compare to other states? Compared to neighboring states, Washington's highway performance lags behind Idaho (15th), Montana (16th), and Oregon (35th). When compared to states with similar populations, Washington also ranked lower than Virginia (4th) and Arizona (29th). North Carolina fared the best in the report and Idaho saw the most improvement, jumping 19 positions from 34th to 15th in the overall rankings.
Yahoo
17-03-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Washington highways among the worst in the nation, per report
This story was originally published on Washington state's highway system is among the worst in the United States, according to the Reason Foundation's 28th Annual Highway Report. The state ranked 47th overall in highway performance and cost-effectiveness, a slight drop from its 46th-place ranking in the previous year's evaluation. The annual report, which assesses the condition, safety, and cost-effectiveness of state-controlled highways in all 50 states, uses data primarily reported by each state to the Federal Highway Administration for 2022. It examines 13 categories, including pavement and bridge conditions, traffic fatalities, and spending. 'In terms of improving in the road condition and performance categories, Washington should focus on reducing capital-bridge disbursements, maintenance disbursements, and other disbursements. The state ranks 50th in all three categories,' said Baruch Feigenbaum, lead author of the 28th Annual Highway Report and senior managing director of transportation policy at Reason Foundation. 'The state performs better in the safety-focused categories but could still do to lower its other fatality rate, in which it ranks in the bottom 20.' The only states that performed worse than Washington were Hawaii, California, and Alaska. Related from MyNorthwest: WA drivers flooded with fake toll texts – here's how to protect yourself from the scam Why did Washington rank so poorly on highways? Washington's rankings varied across different categories. A significant area of concern is traffic congestion. Washington ranked 31st in the nation, with drivers spending an average of 28 hours per year stuck in traffic from Seattle to Spokane and Vancouver to Bellingham. The state performed relatively better in safety and condition categories, ranking 27th in urban Interstate pavement condition and 31st in structurally deficient bridges. However, it struggled in other areas, ranking 44th in rural Interstate pavement condition, 43rd in urban arterial pavement condition, and 25th in rural arterial pavement condition. Related from MyNorthwest: Washington faces transportation funding crisis but road usage charge still iffy proposition Money not-so-well-spent The report highlighted significant deficiencies in spending and cost-effectiveness, too. Washington ranked 50th in capital and bridge disbursements, which cover the costs of building new roads and bridges and widening existing ones. It also ranked 50th in maintenance spending, including expenses for repaving roads and filling potholes. Additionally, the state ranked 47th in administrative disbursements, which include office spending not directly allocated to road projects. 'In spending and cost-effectiveness, Washington ranks 50th in capital and bridge disbursements, which are the costs of building new roads and bridges and widening existing ones,' the report states. 'Washington ranks 50th in maintenance spending, such as the costs of repaving roads and filling in potholes. Washington's administrative disbursements, including office spending that doesn't make its way to roads, ranks 47th nationwide.' The state saw some improvement in rural arterial pavement condition, rising from 30th to 25th. Urbanized area congestion also improved, moving from 35th to 31st. However, the urban fatality rate worsened significantly, dropping from 6th to 27th. Related from MyNorthwest: WSDOT could prevent snow-related crashes at the Snoqualmie Pass, says Cliff Mass How does Washington compare to other states? Compared to neighboring states, Washington's highway performance lags behind Idaho (15th), Montana (16th), and Oregon (35th). When compared to states with similar populations, Washington also ranked lower than Virginia (4th) and Arizona (29th). North Carolina fared the best in the report and Idaho saw the most improvement, jumping 19 positions from 34th to 15th in the overall rankings.
Yahoo
17-03-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
What potholes? Study ranks Ohio's highways among the 10th best in the nation
Ohio has the tenth best highways in the nation in terms of cost-effectiveness and condition, according to a new report from The Reason Foundation. The Buckeye State's new rank is an improvement from Reason's last annual report, which ranked Ohio as 17th. Every year, The Reason Foundation —a libertarian think tank— ranks the nation's state highway systems on cost effectiveness, condition and a slew of other metrics. The data for this year's report, titled the 28th Annual Highway Report, is from 2022. Ohio received top ten rankings on three metrics: rural arterial pavement condition, rural fatality rate and capital and bridge disbursement rate. The state's rural arterial highways —two to four-lane highways connecting cities or regions— have the ninth-best pavement condition, with just 0.36% of these roadways in poor condition. Ohio's fatality rate on the state's rural highways is the ninth lowest at a rate of 0.86 deaths per 100 million rural vehicle miles. Ohio's capital and bridge disbursement rate is the sixth lowest at 0.55. The ratio comes from the expected cost of bridge and highway construction divided by the amount Ohio actually spends. A lower ratio means the state manages to complete construction for less money than expected. Ohio received bottom-twenty rankings in three categories: urban interstate pavement condition, urban arterial pavement condition and other fatalities rate. The condition of Ohio's urban interstates came in at rank 32 with 4.15% of these roadways in poor condition. The condition of Ohio's urban arterial roadways —four to eight lane highways that connect different parts of an urban region— came in at rank 36 with 12.88% of these roadways in poor condition. Ohio's fatality rate on "other" roadways —defined by The Reason Foundation as minor arterial, collector and local roads— was ranked 31st at 1.56 deaths per 100 million vehicle road miles on these roadways. Ohio's overall highway performance is better than Kentucky's, Indiana's, Michigan's, West Virginia's and Pennsylvania's, according to The Reason Foundation. When compared to other states with similar population sizes, its highways are worse than Illinois' but better than Georgia's. NHart@ @NathanRHart This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Study: Ohio's highways are among the top 10 in the nation
Yahoo
14-03-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
How do Texas' road, bridge conditions compare to other states?
AUSTIN (KXAN) — Texas' highway system ranked 25th in the country for its cost-effectiveness and overall conditions — falling six ranking spots from the previous year, according to the 2025 Annual Highway Report released Thursday by public policy think tank Reason Foundation. The report evaluated pavement conditions, fatalities, deficient bridges, infrastructure costs and congestion levels across all 50 states, using data each state reported to the Federal Highway Administration for 2022. Narrowing in on Texas, the Lone Star State earned the following rankings: 34th in urban interstate pavement conditions 22nd in rural interstate pavement conditions 38th in urban arterial pavement conditions 11th in rural arterial pavement conditions 2nd in structurally deficient bridges 34th in urban fatality rate 37th in rural fatality rate 40th in traffic congestion The report found that Texans spend approximately 46 hours each year stuck in traffic congestion. When looking toward its neighboring states, Texas' overall performance ranking was better than Arkansas (No. 28), New Mexico (No. 38), Oklahoma (No. 39) and Louisiana (No. 46). 'To improve in the rankings, Texas should focus on improving urban Interstate and arterial pavement quality and reducing traffic congestion in its biggest cities,' said Baruch Feigenbaum, lead author of the 28th Annual Highway Report and senior managing director of transportation policy at Reason Foundation, in the release. 'Lowering fatality rates should also be a priority for the state.' The full report is available online. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
