Florida ranks number one for America’s best infrastructure, according to a new report from 24/7 Wall St., which ranks each state’s infrastructure from best to worst using criteria such as roads, bridges, dams and highway spending.
Kristina Swallow, American Society of Civil Engineers president, said the nation’s poor infrastructure is detrimental to the American economy, quality of life and even safety.
States with a higher score are the worst for infrastructure.
Florida ranks as:
- Roads in poor condition: 1.3 percent (second lowest)
- Deficient bridges: 2.1 percent (third lowest)
- Dams at high hazard risk: 6.3 percent (ninth lowest)
- State highway spending per driver: $457 (22nd lowest)
Georgia followed in second, and Minnesota, Nevada and Kansas followed in third, fourth and fifth, respectively.
Rhode Island ranks as the state with the worst infrastructure.
To identify the states with the worst infrastructure, 24/7 Wall St. created an index accounting for the share in each state of roads in poor condition, the share of bridges classified as structurally deficient, and the share of dams at high hazard risk. The share of roadways in poor condition and the share of bridges considered structurally deficient came from the Federal Highway Administration’s report Highway Statistics 2016. The share of dams classified as high hazard potential came from the National Inventory of Dams, a database maintained by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Association of State Dam Officials. Highway spending as a share of total government spending came from the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2015 Annual Survey of State Government Finances.
