{"id":253606,"date":"2026-04-06T03:18:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-06T03:18:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/253606\/"},"modified":"2026-04-06T03:18:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-06T03:18:08","slug":"california-ranks-second-to-last-in-the-nation-in-the-reason-foundations-annual-highway-report-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/253606\/","title":{"rendered":"California ranks second-to-last in the nation in the Reason Foundation’s annual highway report"},"content":{"rendered":"

California is ranking near the bottom of the country when it comes to the cost and condition of its highways and state roads, according to a new national study.<\/a><\/p>\n

The annual highway report from the Reason Foundation placed California 49th out of all 50 states.<\/a><\/p>\n

The study evaluated state roadway systems across 13 categories, using the latest available data from 2023. Researchers looked at factors including pavement condition, traffic congestion, spending, and overall cost-effectiveness.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe costs of the roadway system are very high, and the overall quality is not very good,\u201d said Baruch Feigenbaum, a senior managing director of transportation policy at the Reason Foundation and one of the report\u2019s authors.<\/p>\n

Feigenbaum said California\u2019s low ranking was largely driven by poor pavement conditions and how money is allocated toward road projects and maintenance.<\/p>\n

\u201cSince COVID, I think because of the spending and also because the pavement quality has declined in rural areas, we\u2019ve seen the state really fall to the bottom,\u201d he said. “I mean, the only state that’s worse is Alaska, and they’ve got some unique circumstances because of their very low population density.”<\/p>\n

The report focused specifically on state roads and interstate highways, not local streets.<\/p>\n

“Those are basically major signalized roads, so roads with traffic signals, and then we’re looking at interstate highways, so I-5, I-8, I-805, those types of roads,” Feigenbaum said.<\/p>\n

For many drivers in San Diego, the ranking comes as little surprise.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do hit a lot of potholes and stuff, so it definitely does damage to the tires,\u201d one driver said.<\/p>\n

Another pointed to newer roadways that still show signs of wear.<\/p>\n

\u201cI live by the 125, and that\u2019s relatively new, but if you drive it, it\u2019s actually pretty wavy,\u201d another driver said.<\/p>\n

In addition to road conditions, the study highlighted cost-effectiveness as a major issue, examining how states spend money on maintenance, reconstruction, and expansion projects.<\/p>\n

“When we look at spending, we look at spending on capital projects, which are new reconstructions or roadway widenings, and then we also look at spending on maintenance, like repavings, and then just other types of spending, administrative spending, spending on police,” Feigenbaum said.<\/p>\n

While Feigenbaum said California is unlikely to see a dramatic jump in rankings anytime soon, he thinks smaller improvements could still make a difference.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s basically the state needs to find a way to maintain its roadways in better condition,\u201d Feigenbaum said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"California is ranking near the bottom of the country when it comes to the cost and condition of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":253607,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[112535,7,9,8,112537,112538,38765,6713,112536],"class_list":["post-253606","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-baruch-feigenbaum","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news","tag-interstate-highways","tag-pavement-condition","tag-reason-foundation","tag-spending","tag-state-roads"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253606","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=253606"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253606\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/253607"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=253606"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=253606"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=253606"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}