Kansas' highway system ranks 19th in the nation in overall cost-effectiveness and condition, according to the 29th Annual Highway Report published by Reason Foundation. The ranking represents a three-spot improvement from last year's 22nd place, reflecting gains in road quality and urban safety. The report evaluates state-controlled highways across 13 categories, including pavement and bridge conditions, traffic fatalities, congestion, and spending.
The state's highways posted strong marks in several performance areas. Kansas ranks 3rd out of 50 states in traffic congestion, with drivers spending about 10 hours a year stuck in traffic. In pavement quality, the state ranks 13th in Rural Interstate Pavement Condition, 18th in Urban Interstate Pavement Condition, 8th in Rural Arterial Pavement Condition, and 19th in Urban Arterial Pavement Condition. For safety, Kansas ranks 28th in Rural Fatality Rate and 8th in Urban Fatality Rate, while coming in 20th for Structurally Deficient Bridges. The state showed its biggest improvements in Urban Fatality Rate, jumping from 19th to 8th, and Rural Other Principal Arterial Pavement Condition, moving from 13th to 8th. However, Kansas fell sharply in Rural Fatality Rate, dropping from 11th to 28th.
On spending measures, Kansas struggles with efficiency. The state ranks 47th in Capital and Bridge Disbursements, which cover the costs of building new roads and bridges and widening existing ones. Kansas ranks 21st in Maintenance Disbursements—the costs of repaving roads and filling potholes—and 34th in Administrative Disbursements, the office spending that doesn't reach actual roads. When stacked against neighboring states, Kansas outperforms Nebraska (29th), Colorado (42nd), and Oklahoma (45th), but trails Missouri (9th). Among similarly populated states, Kansas ranks better than Arkansas (21st) and Mississippi (24th).
"In terms of improving in the road condition and performance categories, Kansas should focus on reducing its Capital and Bridge and Maintenance Disbursements," said Baruch Feigenbaum, lead author of the report and senior managing director of transportation policy at Reason Foundation. While the state performs strongly in Rural Other Principal Arterial Pavement Condition, Urban Fatality Rate, and Urbanized Area Congestion, "its spending inefficiencies remain key areas for improvement," he noted. The report's methodology uses data each state submitted to the Federal Highway Administration for 2023, supplemented by deficient bridge data from Better Roads and Bridges and congestion data from INRIX.
The report's findings suggest Kansas has room to climb higher by controlling construction and maintenance costs without sacrificing road quality. In the performance categories, a rank of 1 indicates the best outcome—such as the lowest fatality rate or best pavement quality—while a rank of 50 represents the worst. In cost-effectiveness categories, a rank of 1 means the state spends the least, while 50 indicates the highest relative spending. Kansas' challenge is clear: its roads are in decent shape and relatively uncongested, but taxpayers are paying more than they should for that performance.