28th Annual Highway Report says Washington state roads suck

Sometimes it's almost a state pastime to complain about the quality of your roads. I don't care what state you're in, we all do it. I don't do enough cross-country driving to be able to intelligently comment about the quality of our roads, but what driving I do Partake in, to and from Yakima, to and from the tri-cities, to and from Seattle. I find the Washington roads to be in OK shape. 

According to kiro7.com,
Washington state’s highway system is among the worst in the United States, according to the Reason Foundation’s 28th Annual Highway Report. The state ranked 47th overall in highway performance and cost-effectiveness, a slight drop from its 46th-place ranking in the previous year’s evaluation.’ 

One of the reasons this ranking is troubling is because this is actually worse than last year's 46th rating. Washington did score well on the safety aspect of their highways. The three states rated lower than Washington state were Hawaii, California and Alaska. 

Probably the biggest complaint about Washington state highways is traffic congestion. 

The data for this study actually comes from the federal highway Administrations 2022 survey. The data they receive comes from each individual state and is measured on 13 criteria including pavement conditions, spending and traffic fatalities to name a few. 

Based on this survey Washington rates last in capital disbursement for bridges. Also last in maintenance spending. 

The quality of Washington state roads is lagging behind neighbors like Idaho, Montana and Oregon. 

The sad news is that with Washington state's projected multibillion dollar shortfall in the budget some of these issues are not going to be addressed, even in the next two to four years. 

Washington highways among the worst in the nation, per report – KIRO 7 News Seattle
Washington Ranks 47th in the Nation in Highway Performance and Cost-Effectiveness - Reason Foundation