Delaware’s Highway System Ranks 32nd in the Nation in Overall Cost-Effectiveness and Condition

Delaware’s highway system ranks 32nd 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 41st.

In safety and condition categories, Delaware’s highways rank 46th in Urban Interstate Pavement Condition, 6th in Rural Arterial Pavement Condition, 12th in Urban Arterial Pavement Condition, 4th in Structurally Deficient Bridges, 41st in Rural Fatality Rate, and 29th in Urban Fatality Rate. (Delaware has no rural interstate miles). Delaware ranks 47th out of the 50 states in traffic congestion, and its drivers spend about 55 hours a year stuck in traffic congestion.

In spending and cost-effectiveness, Delaware ranks 5th in Capital and Bridge Disbursements, which are the costs of building new roads and bridges and widening existing ones. Delaware ranks 39th in Maintenance Disbursements, such as the costs of repaving roads and filling in potholes. Delaware’s Administrative Disbursements, including office spending that does not make its way to roads, rank 46th nationwide.

Compared to the previous report, the categories in which the state improved the most were Rural Other Principal Arterial Pavement Condition (21st to 6th) and Rural Fatality Rate (49th to 41st). Delaware worsened the most in Other Disbursements (10th to 23rd).

When compared to its neighboring states, Delaware’s overall highway performance is better than Pennsylvania’s (36th), Maryland’s (34th), and New Jersey’s (40th), but worse than Virginia’s (1st) and West Virginia’s (26th).

Comparing its overall performance to similarly populated states, Delaware ranks better than Rhode Island (43rd) but worse than South Dakota (28th). “In terms of improving in the road condition and performance categories, Delaware should focus on improving its urban Interstate pavement condition and reducing urbanized area congestion,” said Baruch Feigenbaum, lead author of the 29th Annual Highway Report and senior managing director of transportation policy at Reason Foundation. “While the state performs strongly in Structurally Deficient Bridges (4th), Capital and Bridge Disbursements (5th), and Rural Other Principal Arterial Pavement Condition (6th), its consistently poor rankings in Urbanized Area Congestion and Administrative Disbursements remain areas of concern.” Rural Interstate Pavement Condition N/A .

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.