R.I. ranks 47th in highway conditions

ACCORDING TO THE LATEST Reason Foundation report, Rhode Island ranked last among the 50 states in terms of the percentage of its bridges that are deficient. Work to replace the Providence Viaduct in downtown Providence has begun, but it depends on continued federal support to be completed. / PBN FILE PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO
ACCORDING TO THE LATEST Reason Foundation report, Rhode Island ranked last among the 50 states in terms of the percentage of its bridges that are deficient. Work to replace the Providence Viaduct in downtown Providence has begun, but it depends on continued federal support to be completed. / PBN FILE PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO

PROVIDENCE – Rhode Island ranks 47th in the country in overall highway performance and cost effectiveness in the latest highway report by the nonprofit Reason Foundation.
The report is based on 2012 data.
Although it’s only three spots from the bottom, Rhode Island fared better than it did in 2011, when it was last on the list, and in 2009, when it was 49th.
According to the report, Rhode Island’s problem areas include deficient bridges, where it ranked last, and rural arterial pavement condition, where landed in the 48th spot.
Rhode Island did well in some categories.
It came in first for its rural interstate pavement condition, seventh for fatality rate and 17th for urban interstate pavement condition.
Hawaii ranked last in the survey.
Wyoming has the best roads, coming in first.
Reason Foundation’s annual highway report is based on spending and data submitted by state highway agencies to the federal government for 2012 except on urban interstate congestion.
Because the federal government does not have that data available, the report uses 2011 (the most recent year available) congestion data from the Texas A&M Transportation Institute. Also, each ranking represents a percentage, meaning that the state ranking first in deficient bridges has the smallest percentage of deficient bridges, not necessarily the smallest number of deficient bridges.
Visit reason.org to view complete results.

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  1. I’m not surprised – my sister visiting from Mexico (yes, Mexico) commented on the state of disrepair of Rhode Island’s roads. While we need to be attentive to our many other issues, it would be good if our infrastructure didn’t implode in the meanwhile.