Connecticut Ranks 13th in the Nation in Highway Performance and Cost-Effectiveness

Connecticut’s highway system ranks 13th in the nation in overall cost-effectiveness and condition.

According to the Annual Highway Report by Reason Foundation, this is an eight-spot fall from Connecticut’s ranking of 5th overall in the last evaluation of the condition, safety, and costs of roads and bridges in all 50 states.

In safety and condition categories, Connecticut’s highways rank 15th in urban Interstate pavement condition, 9th in rural Interstate pavement condition, 28th in urban arterial pavement condition, 32nd in rural arterial pavement condition, 21st in structurally deficient bridges, 26th in urban fatality rate, and 30th in rural fatality rate.

Connecticut’s ranks 32nd out of the 50 states in traffic congestion, and its drivers spend 29 hours a year stuck in traffic congestion.

In spending and cost-effectiveness, Connecticut ranks 18th in capital and bridge disbursements, which are the costs of building new roads and bridges and widening existing ones. Connecticut ranks 9th in maintenance spending, such as the costs of repaving roads and filling in potholes. Connecticut administrative disbursements, including office spending that doesn’t make its way to roads, rank 14th nationwide.

The categories in which the state improved the most were urbanized area congestion (42nd to 32nd) and maintenance disbursements (16th to 9th).

Connecticut worsened the most in urban fatality rate (11th to 26th).

Compared to neighboring and nearby states, Connecticut’s rank is higher than New Hampshire’s (19th), Massachusetts’ (40th), Rhode Island’s (42nd), and New York’s (45th).

Comparing its overall performance to similarly populated states, Connecticut ranks behind Utah (8th) but higher than Iowa (31st), Oregon (35th), and Oklahoma (39th).

Connecticut’s highway system ranked 13th overall this year, 5th overall last year, and 44th in the nation five years ago, in 2019.

“In terms of improving in the road condition and performance categories, Connecticut should focus on improving rural arterial pavement conditions and urbanized area congestion. These are the only performance-focused categories in which the state ranks in the bottom 20,” said Baruch Feigenbaum, lead author of the 28th Annual Highway Report and senior managing director of transportation policy at Reason Foundation. “Connecticut should also look to lower its rural fatality rate, which was the state’s lowest safety-focused ranking.”

Reason Foundation’s 28th Annual Highway Report measures the condition and cost-effectiveness of state-controlled highways in 13 categories, including pavement and bridge conditions, traffic fatalities, and spending. In the performance categories, ranking first implies the state has the best or lowest fatality rate and its road pavement is in the best condition. A ranking of 50th in performance categories means the state has the worst fatality rates or pavement conditions. In simplified terms, in the cost-effectiveness categories, a rank of 50 means the state spends more money, and a first-place ranking means the state spends less money than other states in that category.

The report’s data are primarily information each state directly reported to the Federal Highway Administration for 2022. Better Roads and Bridges provides the deficient bridge data, and the Texas A&M Transportation Institute provides the traffic congestion data.
Please see the complete 28th Annual Highway Report for detailed methodology and a comprehensive list of data sources.