Michigan Highways Improve, Rank 24th in the Nation in New Study

The State of Michigan has work to do in improving roads, but believe it or not, progress is being made.  That’s the conclusion of a new report from the Reason Foundation.

Michigan’s highway system ranks 24th in the nation in overall cost-effectiveness and condition, according to the 25th Annual Highway Report by Reason Foundation. This is a six-spot improvement from the previous report, where Michigan ranked 30th overall.

In safety and performance categories, Michigan ranks 14th in overall fatality rate, 41st in structurally deficient bridges, 26th in traffic congestion, 46th in urban Interstate percent in poor condition, and 42nd in rural Interstate pavement condition.

On spending, Michigan ranks 15th in total spending per mile and 19th in capital and bridge costs per mile.

Michigan’s best rankings are in its rural fatality rate (6th) and overall fatality rate (14th).

Michigan’s worst rankings are in urban Interstate pavement condition (46th) and rural Interstate pavement condition (42nd)

“To further improve in the rankings, Michigan needs to improve its pavement condition and reduce its percentage of structurally deficient bridges. Michigan is in the bottom 10 for urban Interstate pavement condition, rural Interstate pavement condition, and structurally deficient bridges. Compared to nearby states, the report finds Michigan’s overall highway performance is better than Indiana (ranks 32nd), Illinois (ranks 37th), and Pennsylvania (ranks 39th), but worse than Ohio (ranks 13th) and Wisconsin (ranks 22nd),” said Baruch Feigenbaum, lead author of the Annual Highway Report and senior managing director of transportation policy at Reason Foundation.

Michigan’s state-controlled highway mileage makes it the 32nd largest highway system in the country.

Reason Foundation’s 25th Annual Highway Report measures the condition and cost-effectiveness of state-controlled highways in 13 categories, including pavement condition, traffic congestion, structurally deficient bridges, traffic fatalities, and spending (capital, maintenance, administrative, overall) per mile. The Annual Highway Report is based on spending and performance data submitted by state highway agencies to the federal government for 2018 as well as urban congestion data from INRIX and bridge condition data from the Better Roads inventory for 2019.