Prairie State Wire

Illinois saw its ranking on the Reason Foundation’s 25th Annual Highway Report drop nine spots since the previous report, putting the state at 37th in terms of highway cost-effectiveness conditions.

Illinois ranked better in the overall fatality rate category, coming in at 15th. But the state was in the bottom half of the 50 states (32nd) in the level of structural problems facing its bridges, and the level of traffic congestion was high as well (49th place).

In the category of capital and bridge costs per mile, Illinois came in 42nd due to a lack of cost-effective spending, the foundation reported.

“To improve in the rankings, Illinois needs to reduce its spending and congestion,” Baruch Feigenbaum, the lead author of the report, said in a prepared statement. “Illinois is doing worse than comparable states like Michigan (24th) and Ohio (13th).”

The state has the 14th largest highway system in the country, according to the study, which was released last month.

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Highway Performance Rankings by State

Overall Rank	State	Rank for Total Disbursements per Mile	Rank for Overall Fatality Rate
1	North Dakota	4	21
2	Missouri	1	31
3	Kansas	7	32
4	Kentucky	10	45
5	Idaho	11	35
6	South Carolina	3	50
7	Tennessee	5	33
8	Mississippi	2	49
9	Arkansas	9	39
10	Montana	13	42
11	South Dakota	6	36
12	Nebraska	8	25
13	Ohio	21	13
14	North Carolina	14	30
15	Minnesota	19	2
16	New Mexico	16	41
17	Utah	36	6
18	Texas	28	34
19	Alabama	18	37
20	Iowa	25	16
21	Virginia	32	17
22	Wisconsin	29	9
23	Arizona	17	47
24	Michigan	15	14
25	Maine	24	11
26	Georgia	22	26
27	Nevada	30	27
28	Oregon	34	38
29	New Hampshire	23	22
30	Vermont	33	10
31	Louisiana	20	48
32	Indiana	27	19
33	West Virginia	38	46
34	Oklahoma	31	43
35	Connecticut	42	12
36	Wyoming	12	20
37	Illinois	37	15
38	Colorado	26	29
39	Pennsylvania	43	28
40	Florida	45	40
41	Maryland	46	7
42	Hawaii	35	23
43	California	40	18
44	New York	44	5
45	Washington	39	8
46	Rhode Island	41	4
47	Massachusetts	49	1
48	Delaware	47	24
49	Alaska	48	44
50	New Jersey	50	3

Source: Reason Foundation