Washington highways among the worst in the nation, per report

Washington state’s highway system is among the worst in the United States, according to the Reason Foundation’s 28th Annual Highway Report. The state ranked 47th overall in highway performance and cost-effectiveness, a slight drop from its 46th-place ranking in the previous year’s evaluation.

The annual report, which assesses the condition, safety, and cost-effectiveness of state-controlled highways in all 50 states, uses data primarily reported by each state to the Federal Highway Administration for 2022. It examines 13 categories, including pavement and bridge conditions, traffic fatalities, and spending.

“In terms of improving in the road condition and performance categories, Washington should focus on reducing capital-bridge disbursements, maintenance disbursements, and other disbursements. The state ranks 50th 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. “The state performs better in the safety-focused categories but could still do to lower its other fatality rate, in which it ranks in the bottom 20.”

The only states that performed worse than Washington were Hawaii, California, and Alaska.

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Why did Washington rank so poorly on highways?

Washington’s rankings varied across different categories.

A significant area of concern is traffic congestion. Washington ranked 31st in the nation, with drivers spending an average of 28 hours per year stuck in traffic from Seattle to Spokane and Vancouver to Bellingham.

The state performed relatively better in safety and condition categories, ranking 27th in urban Interstate pavement condition and 31st in structurally deficient bridges. However, it struggled in other areas, ranking 44th in rural Interstate pavement condition, 43rd in urban arterial pavement condition, and 25th in rural arterial pavement condition.

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Money not-so-well-spent

The report highlighted significant deficiencies in spending and cost-effectiveness, too.

Washington ranked 50th in capital and bridge disbursements, which cover the costs of building new roads and bridges and widening existing ones. It also ranked 50th in maintenance spending, including expenses for repaving roads and filling potholes. Additionally, the state ranked 47th in administrative disbursements, which include office spending not directly allocated to road projects.

“In spending and cost-effectiveness, Washington ranks 50th in capital and bridge disbursements, which are the costs of building new roads and bridges and widening existing ones,” the report states. “Washington ranks 50th in maintenance spending, such as the costs of repaving roads and filling in potholes. Washington’s administrative disbursements, including office spending that doesn’t make its way to roads, ranks 47th nationwide.”

The state saw some improvement in rural arterial pavement condition, rising from 30th to 25th. Urbanized area congestion also improved, moving from 35th to 31st. However, the urban fatality rate worsened significantly, dropping from 6th to 27th.

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How does Washington compare to other states?

Compared to neighboring states, Washington’s highway performance lags behind Idaho (15th), Montana (16th), and Oregon (35th). When compared to states with similar populations, Washington also ranked lower than Virginia (4th) and Arizona (29th).

North Carolina fared the best in the report and Idaho saw the most improvement, jumping 19 positions from 34th to 15th in the overall rankings.

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