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

NORTH CAROLINA — 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. But in North Carolina, the news isn’t all bad.

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.

Our state ranks No. 17 in overall performance and cost-effectiveness rankings, which reflects a drop by three spots compared to the previous report. North Carolina also ranked No. 5 in total disbursements per mile, No. 6 in capital and bridge disbursements per mile, and No. 9 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 North Carolina did across the 11 other metrics:

• Maintenance Disbursements Per Mile: 9th
• Administrative Disbursements Per Mile: 10th
• Rural Interstate Pavement Condition: 20th
• Urban Interstate Pavement Condition: 15th
• Rural Arterial Pavement Condition: 23rd
• Urban Arterial Pavement Condition: 18th
• Urbanized Area Congestion: 23rd
• Structurally Deficient Bridges: 34th
• Overall Fatality Rate: 30th
• Rural Fatality Rate: 49th
• Urban Fatality Rate: 13th

“To improve in the rankings, North Carolina needs to reduce its rural fatality rate. The state is in the bottom five of all states for rural fatality rate. Compared to neighboring states, the report finds North Carolina’s overall highway performance is better than South Carolina (ranks 20th), but worse than Kentucky (ranks 5th) and Tennessee (ranks 7th),” said Baruch Feigenbaum, lead author of the Annual Highway Report and assistant director of transportation at Reason Foundation.

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