We’re 46! Study Claims WA Highways-Roads Among Worst in Nation

The annual study of the nation's highways and transportation system has been released by the Reason Foundation, and it is not good for WA

WA State ranks 46th, among the worst

The Reason Foundation is an independent think tank, whose mission statement reads in part:

"Reason Foundation advances a free society by developing, applying, and promoting libertarian principles, including individual liberty, free markets, and the rule of law."

Since 1996, the Foundation has released a comprehensive look at the nation's highways. The categories used to determine the rankings include:

• Capital and bridge disbursements
• maintenance disbursements 
• rural interstate and other rural pavement conditions
• urban interstate and other urban pavement conditions
• rural, urban, and other fatality rates 

There are other areas used in the study as well. WA state comes in at 46th out of 50, others who are the worst include Alaska, Hawaii, California, and New York. Oregon ranks 37th, and Idaho 34th. The best roads? Virginia, North Carolina and Tennessee.

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According to Reason, we have fallen from last year:

"This is a four-spot decline from the previous report, where Washington ranked 42nd...The state’s costs are disproportionately high and the biggest driver of its poor overall rankings....Washington is 50th in capital and bridge spending per mile and 50th in maintenance spending per mile."

This is despite hundreds of millions of dollars being spent in each state budget on so-called 'transportation packages,' which do not seem to fix the problems.