(The Center Square) – Minnesota’s highways rank among the top tier nationally for cost-effectiveness and condition, though the state slipped slightly from previous years, according to a newly released report.
The Reason Foundation’s 29th Annual Highway Report ranked Minnesota 11th overall among all 50 states. That is a four-spot decline from last year’s ranking of 7th.
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 state’s strong overall ranking, Minnesota’s performance varied across key categories.
In safety and condition metrics, the state ranked 9th in rural interstate pavement condition, 16th in urban interstate pavement condition and 22nd in rural arterial pavement condition.
Minnesota performed better in urban arterial pavement condition, ranking 3rd nationwide, and placed 11th for its number of structurally-deficient bridges.
The state also ranked among the safest in the nation, coming in 5th for rural fatality rate and 1st for urban fatality rate.
However, congestion remains a concern. Minnesota ranked 24th nationally in traffic congestion, with drivers spending an average of about 18 hours a year stuck in traffic.
In spending and cost-effectiveness categories, Minnesota’s ranking nationally was also poor. The state placed 32nd in capital and bridge disbursements, which include the costs of building new roads and expanding existing ones.
It ranked 43rd in maintenance disbursements, such as repaving roads and filling potholes, and 32nd in administrative disbursements.
Compared to the previous report, Minnesota saw its largest improvements in urbanized area congestion, rising from 29th to 24th, and urban fatality rate, improving from 2nd to 1st. Its largest decline came in maintenance disbursements, dropping from 36th to 43rd.
Lead report author Baruch Feigenbaum said Minnesota’s strong safety performance is a bright spot, but spending trends suggest areas for improvement.
“In terms of improving in the road condition and performance categories, Minnesota should focus on reducing its maintenance disbursements and other disbursements while maintaining its strong safety metrics,” Feigenbaum said. “The state performs strongly . . . but its weak performance in maintenance spending suggests room for improvement.”
Compared to neighboring states, Minnesota outperformed South Dakota (28th), Wisconsin (31st) and Iowa (35th), but ranked behind North Dakota (6th). Among similarly-populated states, Minnesota also ranked below South Carolina (3rd), but above Colorado (42nd).
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.
