North Dakota is the genuine king of the road. According to a recent study, the state’s highway system is the nation’s most cost-effective, an honor North Dakota has held since 2001, finishing first or tied for first in five of 12 categories, including rural interstate condition.
The Reason Foundation’s 17th Annual Report on the Performance of State Highway Systems, released Aug. 12, measures the performance of all state-owned roads and highways from 1984 to 2006. The study calculates the effectiveness and performance of each state in 12 different categories, including traffic fatalities, congestion, pavement condition, bridge condition, highway maintenance costs and administrative costs.
Finishing behind North Dakota in the report was Montana, which jumped from fifth to second in the overall performance and cost-effectiveness rankings. New Mexico, ranked as low as 27th in 2000, was third overall. Wyoming and Kansas were fourth and fifth, respectively.
New Jersey, which has ranked last every year since 2000, continues to be the nation's least cost-effective and worst-performing road system. Despite having the nation’s fourth smallest state-owned highway system, New Jersey finished dead last in five of the study's 12 categories. Several of the least populous states performed very poorly, and make up the rest of the bottom five: Alaska (49th), Rhode Island (48th), Hawaii (47th) and New Hampshire (46th).
Texas, home to the nation's largest state-controlled highway system, ranked 12th overall in performance and cost-effectiveness. South Carolina, owner of the country’s fifth largest system, ranks sixth overall. Georgia, Ohio, Missouri and Virginia are some of the other top-performing large states.
To see the complete report, go to www.reason.org/ps369/.
