(The Center Square) – Wisconsin ranks 26th in overall road cost-effectiveness and condition in Reason Foundation’s Annual Highway Report, a seven-spot improvement from a year ago.
The report ranks each state on road and bridge safety, pavement quality and on a cost-effectiveness metric.
Wisconsin’s top ranking, seventh, came due to its low rate of rural fatalities while it ranked 10th in urban fatalities and other fatality rate.
The state ranked 10th in maintenance disbursements ratio, which are the costs of repaving roads and filling in potholes. It ranks 24th in capital and bridge disbursements, which are the costs of building new roads and bridges and widening existing ones.
“In terms of improving in the road condition and performance categories, Wisconsin should focus on reducing other disbursements and improving both rural and urban arterial pavement condition. The state ranks in the bottom 15 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. “Reducing the percentage of structurally deficient bridges should also be a priority for Wisconsin, as the state ranks in the bottom half of states in bridges.”
Wisconsin got worse in urbanized area congestion, going from 13th to 27th, while drivers on average spent 17 hours a year stuck in traffic congestion.
Wisconsin highways rank 33rd in urban Interstate pavement condition, 30th in rural Interstate pavement condition, 44th in urban arterial pavement condition, 39th in rural arterial pavement condition and 27th in structurally deficient bridges.
