Hawaii road conditions ranked 47th nationwide

HONOLULU—State highway conditions may be the best they’ve been in 19 years, but Hawaii’s roads ranked a dismal 47th nationwide, according to Reason Foundation’s 19th Annual Highway Report released today.

The annual study 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. National performance in all of those key areas improved in 2008, the most recent year with complete data available.

The report says that the recession is partly responsible for the overall nationwide improvement in road conditions—people are driving less, which has helped slow pavement deterioration and reduced traffic congestion and fatalities.

Overall, North Dakota, Montana, and Kansas have the most cost-effective state highway systems. Rhode Island, Alaska, California, Hawaii, and New York have the least cost-effective road systems.

Hawaii motorists have to look out for the most potholes on urban Interstates, with approximately 25 percent of freeway pavement in “poor condition.”

In 2008, Hawaii ranked 47th in the overall performance rankings, slipping one position from 2007 when it ranked 46th.

More fun facts about Hawaii’s state highways:

* With 1,005 miles under the state-owned highway system, Hawaii is the smallest system among the 50 states.
* Hawaii’s best rankings were for rural Interstate condition (1st tie) and fatality rate (12th).
* Hawaii’s worst rankings were for urban Interstate condition (50th), deficient bridges (48th), rural other principal arterial condition (48th), capital and bridge disbursements per mile (46th), total disbursements per mile (46th) and rural narrow lanes (46th).
* Hawaii reported a sharp improvement in the fatality rate from 2007 when it reported 1.33 fatalities per 100 million vehicle miles to 1.04 fatalities per 100 million vehicle miles in 2008.
* Hawaii reported an improvement in the deficient bridges from 44.8 percent reported deficient in 2007 to 37.96 percent reported deficient in 2008. But it also reported a significant increase in the capital and bridge disbursements per mile, from $185,904 per mile of responsibility in 2007 to $259,466 per mile of responsibility in 2008, an increase of 39.6 percent.

The full Annual Highway Report with detailed state-by-state analysis is online here.

The full Annual Highway Report rankings from best to worst are:

North Dakota
Montana
Kansas
New Mexico
Nebraska
South Carolina
Wyoming
Missouri
Georgia
Oregon
Delaware
South Dakota
Texas
Kentucky
Nevada
Mississippi
Idaho
Virginia
Tennessee
Alabama
North Carolina
Utah
Indiana
Ohio
Minnesota
Arizona
New Hampshire
Wisconsin
Arkansas
West Virginia
Iowa
Maine
Washington
Colorado
Michigan
Louisiana
Oklahoma
Pennsylvania
Florida
Illinois
Connecticut
Vermont
Maryland
Massachusetts
New Jersey
New York
Hawaii
California
Alaska
Rhode Island