Here’s How Alabama Ranks Among Nation’s Highway Systems

BIRMINGHAM, AL — The 2019 Reason Foundation’s Annual Highway Report presented a troubling finding for the condition of America’s highway system — our freeways are deteriorating, and bridges, Interstates pavement, and roads are in much need of repair.

The report was based on data that states submitted to the federal government, which ranks each state’s highway system in 14 categories, including total spending per mile, urban fatality rate on the road, and congestion.

Alabama ranks 10th in overall performance and cost-effectiveness rankings. Alabama also ranked 16th in total disbursements per mile, 16th in capital and bridge disbursements per mile, and 2nd in maintenance disbursements per mile.

North Dakota took home the top overall spot on the list for the second year in a row, whereas New Jersey ranked the 50th overall highway system in the United State. Virginia had the biggest improvement overall from last year, as it jumped 25 spots from its previous 27th ranking, all the way into second place.

Here’s how Alabama did across the 11 other metrics:

• Maintenance Disbursements Per Mile: 2nd
• Administrative Disbursements Per Mile: 35th
• Rural Interstate Pavement Condition: 16th
• Urban Interstate Pavement Condition: 30th
• Rural Arterial Pavement Condition: 2nd
• Urban Arterial Pavement Condition: 12th
• Urbanized Area Congestion: 2nd
• Structurally Deficient Bridges: 18th
• Overall Fatality Rate: 22nd
• Rural Fatality Rate: 40th
• Urban Fatality Rate: 36th

"To improve in the rankings, Alabama needs to reduce its fatality rate. Alabama is in the bottom 15 of all states in each of the fatality rankings. Compared to neighboring states, the report finds Alabama’s overall highway performance is better than Georgia (ranks 26th) and Mississippi (ranks 25th) but worse than Tennessee (ranks 7th)," said Baruch Feigenbaum, lead author of the Annual Highway Report and assistant director of transportation at Reason Foundation. "Alabama is doing better than comparable states like South Carolina (ranks 20th) and Louisiana (ranks 34th)."

Here are the top ten overall states in highway performance and cost-effectiveness:

1. North Dakota
2. Virginia
3. Missouri
4. Maine
5. Kentucky
6. Kansas
7. Tennessee
8. Montana
9. Utah
10. Alabama

With every ranking that includes a top ten, there’s also a bottom 10 — here are the ten worst highway systems by state:

40. Florida
41. Oklahoma
42. Delaware
43. California
44. Connecticut
45. New York
46. Massachusetts
47. Hawaii
48. Rhode Island
49. Alaska
50. New Jersey