Idaho shows improvement in some highway condition categories
A report on the condition of the nation’s highway system ranked Idaho third for improvements to its rural interstates and third in improvements to its rural principal arterial highway conditions.
The report, “Are Highways Crumbling?” showed 24.5 percent of the pavement on Idaho’s rural interstate highways were deficient in 1989. It improved by 1.5 percent in 1999 and 1.3 percent in 2008, the last year for which data was available to researchers.
That 20-year improvement ranked behind only Missouri and Rhode Island.
Results of the Reason Foundation’s extensive research on the condition of the nation’s highways were released this week. David T. Hartgen, M. Gregory Fields and Elizabeth San Jose wrote the report for project director Adrian T. Moore.
Hartgen established the Center for Interdisciplinary Transportation Studies and now heads The Hartgen Group, a consulting company specializing in transportation planning. He is a senior fellow at the Reason Foundation and emeritus professor of Transportation Studies at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.
The Hartgen report has been published regularly the past two decades.
Idaho ranked third, behind only Alaska and Montana, for improvements to its rural principal arterials. It was fifth in the reduction of traffic fatality rates, dropping from 2.83 in 1989, to 1.99 a decade later, and 1.52 in 2008.
The fatality rates (fatalities per million miles traveled) in Idaho made even greater strides since 2008, the year on which the latest Reason report was based. In 2011, Idaho's fatality rate was 1.08, down from 1.34 in 2010.
Idaho recorded a 20.1 percent drop in fatal crashes between 2010 (185 to 152); the number of people who died on Idaho highways has declined steadily since 2007, falling below 200 for the first time in modern history in 2011 at 167. Figures are not available yet for 2012.
Idaho also ranked among the top 10 in the Reason report for increased spending per mile of responsibility between 1989 and 2008. It was among the bottom 10 states for reductions in urban interstate congestion (43rd) and reduction in the number of deficient bridges (46th).
The report shows Idaho among 15 states that improved in five of the seven performance areas. Eleven states showed improvements in all seven categories and another 11 marked increased in six areas. The remaining 13 states recorded improvements in four or fewer categories.
“Most states (37 of 50) improved or maintained their performance on five or more measures. And most states (38 of 50) also spent less than the national average, per mile of responsibility,” the report indicated.
“Interestingly, those states that spent the most money did not make the most improvement, and states with relatively few resources also made progress. For instance, California spent about twice as much as the average state (per mile of responsibility), but its performance improved in just two of the seven measures (deficient bridges and fatality rate). Hawaii and New York also spent two to two-and-a-half times the national average but improved in just three of seven measures.
" Conversely, 10 states (led by North Dakota, Virginia and Missouri) spent less than the national average per mile of responsibility but improved on all seven measures, and only one state (Florida) improved on all seven measures and spent more than the national average.”
Published 3-1-13