(The Center Square) – Michigan’s highways rank in the middle of the pack nationally for cost-effectiveness and condition, according to a newly-released report.
The Reason Foundation’s 29th Annual Highway Report ranked Michigan 23rd overall among all 50 states. That ranking is unchanged from last year.
The report measures the condition and cost-effectiveness of state-controlled highways across 13 categories, including pavement conditions, bridge quality, safety and spending.
Despite the average overall ranking, several of Michigan’s pavement and bridge categories ranked much-worse nationally.
For example, in safety and condition measures, Michigan ranked 39th in rural interstate pavement condition and 41st in urban interstate pavement condition. The state placed 16th in rural arterial pavement condition and 34th in urban arterial pavement condition.
Safety rankings were somewhat stronger. Michigan ranked seventh in rural fatality rate and 22nd in urban fatality rate.
Traffic congestion was less of an issue compared with many other states. Michigan ranked 15th nationwide in congestion, with drivers spending about 15 hours per year stuck in traffic.
The report also evaluated how efficiently states spend money on their highway systems.
Michigan ranked 39th in capital and bridge disbursements, which include the costs of building new roads and bridges or widening existing ones. The state ranked 19th in maintenance disbursements, such as repaving roads and filling potholes.
Administrative disbursements, which include office spending that does not directly go toward road projects, ranked 12th nationally.
Compared with the previous report, Michigan saw its biggest improvements in urbanized area congestion, rising from 26th to 15th, and rural fatality rate, improving from 10th to seventh.
The state’s biggest decline was in capital and bridge disbursements, which dropped from 33rd to 39th.
“In terms of improving in the road condition and performance categories, Michigan should focus on reducing its percentage of structurally deficient bridges and improving its urban interstate pavement condition,” said Baruch Feigenbaum, lead author of the report and senior managing director of transportation policy at the Reason Foundation.
Michigan’s highway system has improved over the past several years, though challenges remain. The state ranked 34th nationally in 2020 before climbing to 23rd in more recent reports.
The biggest area of concern is Michigan’s bridges, with it ranking 43rd for structurally-deficient bridges.
This is not the first report to highlight those concerts. State transportation officials have expressed similar alarm about bridge conditions in Michigan.
As previously reported by The Center Square last August, officials with the Michigan Department of Transportation warned lawmakers that aging bridges and limited funding could lead to more closures across the state.
“Even though we are doing all the right things, the funding is not there to help us move the needle enough,” said Rebecca Curtis, chief bridge engineer for MDOT, during testimony before a state House appropriations subcommittee.
“If we wait until 10–20 years to address the problem, there will be too many bridges to replace at once and we won’t be able to manage the inventory without closures,” Curtis said.
Curtis also warned that rising costs have made it harder for the state to keep up with maintenance.
“We have been losing ground as the amount of good bridges has decreased over time,” she said. “As our funding has no longer been able to keep up with inflation, and also our bridges continue to age out, we expect a faster deterioration rate.”
According to MDOT, the state currently has nearly 280 bridges on the highway system rated poor, with more than 100 at high risk of closure by 2035. The state predicts that could impact as many as 1.2 million drivers daily.
“Based on current funding allocated for bridge replacements, the department can rebuild fewer than 10 bridges per year,” MDOT said in August. “With a total bridge inventory of just more than 4,500 bridges, MDOT would need to design and build bridges with an average 500-year service life to keep the network in good and fair working order based on today’s funding.”
Additionally, the American Road and Transportation Builders Association reports that Michigan has 2,737 bridges that need repairs, up from 2,667 bridges that needed work in 2020.
According to ARTBA, the state ranks 9th in the nation for its high percentage (11%) of bridges which are considered structurally deficient. Of the 11,371 bridges in the state, 1,281 are currently classified as structurally deficient.
According to MDOT, nearly 280 bridges on the state highway system are rated in poor condition, with more than 100 considered at high risk of closure by 2035. The department estimates that could affect as many as 1.2 million drivers each day.
Currently, about 60 to 70 bridges across Michigan are closed, and the number could rise if replacement projects do not accelerate.
National data also reflects the scope of the challenge. The American Road and Transportation Builders Association reports that Michigan has 2,737 bridges in need of repairs. Of the state’s 11,371 bridges, 1,281 are classified as structurally deficient.
Michigan’s ranking in the Reason report places it ahead of some neighboring states but behind others.
Among nearby states, Michigan performed better than Wisconsin, which ranked 31st, and Illinois, which ranked 37th. However, it trailed Ohio (5th), Minnesota (11th), and Indiana (18th).
The report’s data was primarily based on information states submitted to the Federal Highway Administration for 2023, along with bridge data from Better Roads and Bridges and congestion data from INRIX.
