TRENTON, N.J. – New Jersey, the “Crossroads of the American Revolution,” is best known in contemporary times for its famous highways and byways. Unfortunately, our road system is also the nation’s least efficient.
A new annual report from the Reason Foundation has once again ranked New Jersey last place in the U.S. for highway performance and cost-efficiency.
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“To improve in the rankings, New Jersey needs to reduce spending, improve pavement condition, and decrease traffic congestion,” explained Baruch Feigenbaum, lead author of the Annual Highway Report and senior managing director of transportation policy at Reason Foundation. “The state ranks 50th in three of the four disbursement categories (overall, capital and bridge, and maintenance), the bottom 10 in three of four pavement categories (urban Interstate, rural arterial, and urban arterial), and 40th in traffic congestion. New Jersey ranks in the bottom 10 states in eight of the 13 metrics. Compared to neighboring states, the report finds New Jersey’s overall highway performance is worse than Delaware (ranks 48th), New York (ranks 44th), and Pennsylvania (ranks 39th). New Jersey is doing worse than comparable states like Massachusetts (ranks 47th) and Maryland (ranks 41st).”
New Jersey’s high spending per mile is a huge drag on its ranking.
The Garden State’s shameful overall ranking isn’t helped by another terrible stat: it ranks 3rd in America for largest percentage of gas tax revenue diverted from actual roads-specific expenses.
Click here to read the full report.
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