Credit IDOT
Illinois highways rank 37th in overall performance and cost effectiveness according to a recent study by the Reason Foundation.
The study, based on 2018 data, says Illinois had a relatively low level of traffic fatalities, particularly in rural areas. It was also relatively cost effective in terms of administrative spending per mile of road. But study author Baruch Feigenbaum said there is room to improve.
“How much it spends to rebuild major roads, build new roads, ranks 42nd. Maintenance disbursements ranks 31st. The pavement condition ranges from okay to below average.”
Furthermore, only Delaware ranked below Illinois when it came to urban traffic congestion.
Transportation Plan? Atlanta Voters Say No Thanks Voters in the Atlanta region rejected a ballot measure to raise sales taxes by a penny to fund some $6 billion in transportation projects. Caroline Cournoyer | September 2012
Something for everyone isn’t always enough to please anyone. That moral can be drawn from the failure of a major transportation funding measure in Atlanta.
Business groups disturbed by Atlanta-area congestion decided to borrow an idea from Western cities like Phoenix and Denver. Rather than waiting for federal funds, they wanted to ask residents to pay for improvements. They got the Legislature on board, and voters in Atlanta and a 10-county area were presented in July with a ballot measure to raise sales taxes by a penny to fund some $6 billion in transportation projects. (Other regions throughout Georgia voted on similar, more modest packages.)
If you drive in New Jersey, it may not be surprising to you to learn that we have the worst performing highways in the entire country, according to an annual study by the libertarian Reason Foundation.
Baruch Feigenbaum, senior managing director of transportation policy at Reason Foundation, said it compared 13 categories looking at overall spending, pavement conditions, traffic congestion and safety to rank the 50 states highway performances.
He said the data mostly comes from self-reported information from each state to the Federal Highway Administration.
The study found that New Jersey s main issue is that it spent more money on highways than any other state in the nation. Its pavement quality in particular is in poor shape.
Springfield News-Leader
When Missouri lawmakers go into session next month, they may decide to send voters a gas tax proposal in the near future. The hike would help pay for highways, roads and bridges whether taxpayers go along with it could have long-lasting consequences.
Right now, Missouri s gas tax is 17 cents per gallon. Only oil-rich Alaska s is lower. And while Missouri has the seventh-largest highway system in the U.S., it has the lowest revenue per mile of any of its neighboring heartland states.
Much of Missouri s infrastructure needs repair or replacement, say experts and politicians including conservatives and libertarians. Last year, Gov. Mike Parson and lawmakers agreed on a Focus on Bridges program, sending $50 million in state general revenue to fix 45 bridges by the end of this year in hopes of addressing what Parson called a critical need.