Study: Hawaii's roads and bridges rank 48th in the nation in condition and cost-effectiveness
Hawaii's highways rank last in the nation in urban Interstate pavement condition, last in rural fatality rate, 47th in urban fatality rate, and 26th in structurally deficient bridges.
News Release from Reason Foundation, March 13, 2025
Los Angeles — Hawaii's roads and bridges rank 48th in the nation in overall condition and cost-effectiveness, according to the Annual Highway Report by Reason Foundation. Hawaii also ranked 48th in the previous Annual Highway Report, which examines pavement condition, fatalities, deficient bridges, traffic congestion, and the costs of roads and bridges in all 50 states. Hawaii was slightly better, ranking 47th in the nation, five years ago.
In safety and condition categories, Hawaii's highways rank last, 50th, in urban Interstate pavement condition, 40th in urban arterial pavement condition, 47th in rural arterial pavement condition, 26th in structurally deficient bridges, 47th in urban fatality rate, and 50th in rural fatality rate.
Hawaii ranks 19th out of the 50 states in traffic congestion, and its drivers spend 15 hours a year stuck in traffic congestion.
Regarding spending and cost-effectiveness, Hawaii ranks 20th in capital and bridge disbursements, which are the costs of building new roads and bridges and widening existing ones. Hawaii ranks 8th in maintenance spending, such as the costs of repaving roads and filling in potholes. Hawaii's administrative disbursements, including office spending that doesn't make its way to roads, ranks 25th nationwide.
The categories in which the state improved the most from the previous report were maintenance disbursements (20th to 8th), urbanized area congestion (26th to 19th), and structurally deficient bridges (33rd to 26th). Hawaii worsened the most in urban fatality rate (39th to 47th).
Compared to other states, Hawaii's overall highway performance is better than California's (49th) and Alaska's (50th) but worse than Oregon's (35th) and Washington's (47th).
"In terms of improving the road condition and performance categories, Hawaii should focus on improving urban Interstate pavement conditions and both rural and urban arterial pavement conditions. The state ranks in the bottom 12 for each of those categories," said Baruch Feigenbaum, lead author of the 28th Annual Highway Report and senior managing director of transportation policy at Reason Foundation. "Reducing the number of traffic fatalities on urban and rural roads should also be a priority for Hawaii. The state has some of the worst fatality rates in the country."
Reason Foundation’s 28th Annual Highway Report measures the condition and cost-effectiveness of state-controlled highways in 13 categories, including pavement and bridge conditions, traffic fatalities, and spending. In the performance categories, ranking first implies the state has the best or lowest fatality rate, and its road pavement is in the best condition. A ranking of 50th in performance categories means the state has the worst fatality rates or pavement conditions. In simplified terms, in the cost-effectiveness categories, a rank of 50 means the state spends more money, and a first-place ranking means the state spends less money than other states in that category. The report's data are primarily information each state directly reported to the Federal Highway Administration for 2022, the most recent year with complete data available.
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