The Reason Foundation released their 19th annual Performance of State Highway Systems report. The reports measures the condition and cost-effectiveness of state-owned roads in 11 categories, including deficient bridges, urban traffic congestion, fatality rates, pavement condition on urban and rural Interstates and on major rural roads, and the number of unsafe narrow rural lanes.
Unfortunately, Minnesota dropped ten spots to number 25 in the country. According to the Minneapolis Tribune the reason was:
Deteriorating rural freeways and congested urban interstate highways hurt Minnesota’s standing, even though the state has one of the lowest rates of traffic deaths and relatively few bridges in poor condition.
There is a lot in the report:
Including:
- 19th Annual Highway Report (.pdf)
- High Resolution Figures and Charts (.pdf)
- Complete Tables for 19th Annual Highway Report (Excel)
Hopefully, this is the kind of information that will lead to improved roads and increased safety. Rural roads continue to be a area that safety concerns could significantly reduce highway deaths.
Particularly for Minnesota it’s national rankings were:
- State-Controlled Highway Miles 19
- State Highway Agency Miles 27
- Total Disbursements 25
- Capital and Bridge Disbursements 25
- Maintenance Disbursements 38
- Administrative Disbursements 24
- Rural Interstate Condition 45
- Rural Other Principal Arterial Condition 13
- Urban Interstate Condition 15
- Urban Interstate Congestion 49
- Deficient or Functionally Obsolete Bridges 3
- Fatality Rates 2
- Narrow Rural Lanes 27
