(The Center Square) – Administrative disbursements ratio was deemed best in the country for North Carolina, helping send the state to the top national ranking overall in the Reason Foundation’s Annual Highway Report.
The Tarheel State was deemed best in most cost-effective road systems, measuring condition, safety and costs of roads and bridges in all 50 states. In 12 other categories, North Carolina was third in other disbursements ratio, fifth in maintenance disbursements ratio, seventh in capital and bridge disbursements ratio, ninth in urban fatality rate, and 10th in urban arterial pavement condition. The worst scores were 39th each in rural fatality rate and other fatality rate.
The state was second overall last year. Five years ago, it was 17th.
With population estimated at 11 million, North Carolina is ahead of Georgia (sixth) and Michigan (23rd) in similarly populated states, the report says.
“In terms of improving North Carolina’s rankings in the road condition and performance categories, the state ought to focus on congestion, which is a growing problem in many parts of the state,” said Baruch Feigenbaum, lead author and senior managing director of transportation policy at Reason Foundation. “In the safety categories, there is still a lot of room for improvement. North Carolina ought to prioritize reducing its rural and other fatality rates, in which the state ranks 39th in both categories.”
The report said, “North Carolina ranks 21st out of the 50 states in traffic congestion, and its drivers spend 15 hours a year stuck in traffic congestion.”
