“Generally what we find is the states that spend more don’t necessarily get better roads, in fact they often get worse roads,” said Baruch Feigenbaum, Reason’s senior managing director of transportation policy.

Reason Foundation

State transportation departments have continued their decade-long trend of increased spending on highways and bridges but the money does not always lead to improved conditions.

That’s according to Reason Foundation’s 28th annual report on state highways. The report, which evaluates cost versus quality, this year examines 2022, the most recent year with complete data available from the Federal Highway Administration.

“The spending is up, not enormously, but it is up,” said Baruch Feigenbaum, Reason’s senior managing director of transportation policy, who wrote the paper along with Truong Bui, Jay Derr, Thuy Nguyen and Nicholas Montano.

The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, signed into law by former President Joe Biden in 2021, likely drives the increased spending, Feigenbaum said, although Reason did not break out funds by category.

“The IIJA passed in 2021, and this is 2022 data, so it was the first year,” he said. “Conceivably they’ve had some trouble getting the [discretionary] grants out, so in 2023 and 2024 we may see increases also, although that data is not out yet.”

The impact of inflation, which was just heating up in 2022, could eat into the increases in 2023 and 2024, he added.

Since 2012, total capital and bridge disbursements have increased about 26.1%, similar to the Consumer Price Index, which has increased about 27.4%, Reason said. Disbursements in capital, maintenance and administrative spending totaled around $118.68 billion, the report said.

Researchers have found that spending generally peaks after a new surface transportation bill is passed and then declines until the next one is enacted, Feigenbaum said. With IIJA expiring in October 2026, Congress is already starting to weigh in on the next bill, he noted. “But if it doesn’t reauthorize on time, which we have certainly seen in the past, then we expect to see a decrease” in spending, he said.

In 2022, Virginia, South Carolina, Missouri, West Virginia, and Delaware reported the lowest capital and bridge expenditure ratios, after adjusting for urbanization, the report found.

Washington, Idaho, Alaska, Utah, and Indiana reported the highest expenditure ratios.

Utah is an outlier in terms of spending more money and seeing an improved system, Feigenbaum said, adding that the state is known for having one of the best-run DOTs in the country.

Massachusetts and Louisiana, on the other hand, spent more and had less impact, with each seeing comparatively steep rises in “poor-condition mileage” in 2022, the report found.

“Generally what we find is the states that spend more don’t necessarily get better roads, in fact they often get worse roads,” Feigenbaum said. “Places like New York, California, Colorado and Washington all have way-above average spending but usually below-average pavement quality, bridge quality, bad traffic congestion — which is admittedly due to population — and even the safety numbers are mediocre in those states.”

High labor costs may be part of the reason for the higher costs, he said.

In spending categories, Washington, Indiana, Vermont, Oregon, Delaware, Idaho and Alaska are some states that don’t seem to be getting good value for taxpayers’ money, the report said.

North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia’s overall rankings are boosted by the states spending comparatively less money to produce their road and bridge conditions. 

Overall, the report named North Carolina, South Carolina, North Dakota, Virginia, and Tennessee as having the top-performing, most cost-effective road systems.

Alaska, California, Hawaii, Washington, Louisiana, and New York have the worst-performing, least cost-effective roads and bridges.

Just 21 of 50 states made progress in improving their roads and bridges, the report found. That’s in keeping with previous reports, which generally find about half the states making progress.

Other findings: New Mexico and Alaska’s urban Interstate highways are the deadliest while Hawaii and Louisiana have the worst urban pavement conditions. New Jersey has the longest traffic delays. Idaho improved the most, while Massachusetts fell 20 spots in the overall condition and cost-effectiveness rankings.

The biggest note was that fatalities in 2022 continued to rise, although FHWA data lags and the country has since started to see improvements in fatalities, Feigenbaum noted.