Alabama’s Highway System Ranks 8th in the Nation in Overall Cost-Effectiveness and Condition

Alabama’s highway system ranks 8th in the nation in overall cost-effectiveness and condition.

According to the Annual Highway Report by Reason Foundation, this is a nine-spot improvement from last year’s ranking of 17th.

In safety and condition categories, Alabama’s highways rank 32nd in Rural Interstate Pavement Condition, 30th in Urban Interstate Pavement Condition, 5th in Rural Arterial Pavement Condition, 1st in Urban Arterial Pavement Condition, 8th in Structurally Deficient Bridges, 44th in Rural Fatality Rate, and 28th in Urban Fatality Rate.

Alabama ranks 14th out of the 50 states in traffic congestion, and its drivers spend about 15 hours a year stuck in traffic congestion.

In spending and cost-effectiveness, Alabama ranks 13th in Capital and Bridge Disbursements, which are the costs of building new roads and bridges and widening existing ones. Alabama ranks 1st in Maintenance Disbursements, such as the costs of repaving roads and filling in potholes. Alabama’s Administrative Disbursements, including office spending that does not make its way to roads, rank 41st nationwide.

Compared to the previous report, the categories in which the state improved the most were Other Disbursements (from 46th to 5th) and Capital and Bridge Disbursements (from 22nd to 13th).

Alabama worsened the most in Rural Fatality Rate (from 33rd to 44th).

When compared to its neighboring states, Alabama’s overall highway performance is better than Florida’s (14th), Arkansas’ (21st), and Mississippi’s (24th), but worse than Georgia’s (2nd) and South Carolina’s (3rd).

Comparing its overall performance to similarly populated states, Alabama ranks ahead of Kentucky (15th) and Louisiana (46th). “In terms of improving in the road condition and performance categories, Alabama should focus on improving its Administrative Disbursements and Rural Fatality Rate. Alabama ranks in the bottom 10 of all states in both of these categories,” said Baruch Feigenbaum, lead author of the 29th Annual Highway Report and senior managing director of transportation policy at Reason Foundation. “Alabama should also prioritize its Rural Interstate Pavement Condition.”

Reason Foundation’s 29th Annual Highway Report evaluates the cost-effectiveness and performance of state-controlled highways across 13 categories, including pavement and bridge conditions, traffic fatalities, congestion, and spending. In the performance categories, a rank of 1 indicates the best outcome—for example, the lowest fatality rate or the best pavement quality—while a rank of 50 represents the worst outcomes. In the cost-effectiveness categories, a rank of 1 means the state spends the least, while a rank of 50 indicates the highest relative spending. The report’s data are primarily based on information each state submitted to the Federal Highway Administration for 2023, supplemented by deficient bridge data from Better Roads and Bridges and congestion data from INRIX. For full methodology and data sources, see the complete 29th Annual Highway Report.