Road Infrastructure Analysis · Tri-State Region
Big Budget,
Bottom Roads
New York has the largest road network in the tri-state region but invests the least per mile — while spending nearly 5× the national average on administrative overhead. The result: roads ranked 45th out of 50 states.
| State | Road Capital | Public Road Miles | Spending / Mile | Context |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New York | $3.5B | 114,274 | $30,600 / mi | Largest network in the region. Spend diluted across vast rural upstate mileage. Lowest per-mile of the three states. |
| New Jersey | $1.8B | ~39,000 | ~$46,200 / mi | Compact, dense network. Moderate per-mile spend with decent outcomes. |
| Connecticut | $2.1B | 21,478 | $97,800 / mi | Smallest network, highest concentration of spend. 3.2× more per mile than NY. |
Capital figures represent total road & bridge investment (state + federal) for FY/CY 2025. NJ figure is estimated road-only allocation from NJDOT capital program. Road mileage from FHWA Highway Statistics 2023 (Table HM-20).
New York's overall highway ranking out of 50 states
Reason Foundation 28th Annual Highway Report (2022 data)
Rankings from the Reason Foundation's 28th Annual Highway Report (2025, using 2022 FHWA data). Lower rank = worse performance. Arrows show change from 27th report.
| Category | New York | New Jersey | Connecticut |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall Ranking | 45th ↑4 from 49th | 34th ↑10 from 44th | 13th ↓8 from 5th |
| Urban Interstate Pavement | 48th | 43rd | 15th |
| Urban Arterial Pavement | 47th | 41st | 28th |
| Structurally Deficient Bridges | 40th | 30th | 21st |
| Urbanized Area Congestion | 47th | 50th | 32nd |
Note: CT has a high “poor condition” percentage but ranks 13th overall due to strong urban interstate and bridge performance.
Per-lane-mile spending ratios from the Reason Foundation's 27th Annual Highway Report (2020 FHWA data). These ratios show how NY's disbursements compare to the national average and peer states.
| Spending Category | NY vs. National Avg | NY vs. IL | NY vs. PA | Assessment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Capital & Bridge Disbursements / lane-mile | 1.57× national avg | 1.3× | 1.7× | High, but partially explained by urban density and NYC construction costs. |
| Maintenance Disbursements / lane-mile | 1.94× national avg | 2.3× | 1.6× | Severe overspend with no commensurate improvement in road quality. |
| “Other” Admin, overhead, non-construction | 4.92× national avg | 9.3× | 3.0× | Ranked 50th — dead last in the 27th report. Bureaucratic overhead consuming the road budget. |
New Jersey: Construction costs rank among the nation's highest per lane-mile, but administrative efficiency is meaningfully better than NY (ranked 10th vs. NY's 40th in the 28th report).
Connecticut: Asset management approach explicitly designed to stretch dollars — CTDOT credits it with halving the share of bridges in poor condition.
NY overhead vs. national average
NY overhead vs. Illinois
| State | 10-Year Bridge Funding Gap | Trajectory |
|---|---|---|
| New York | $11B — largest in nation Needs $17B over 10 years, only $6B in available funding. | Catch-up mode. Decades of deferral compound repair costs exponentially. |
| New Jersey | Moderate | Improved 10+ spots in recent Reason Foundation rankings. Positive trend — was 50th five years ago, now 34th. |
| Connecticut | Actively closing | Bridge poor-condition rate cut from 13% to 7.5%. NHS bridge count dropped from 231 to 209. |
Invests the least per mile of the three states while ranking 45th nationally. Administrative overhead consumes nearly 5× the national average. Holds the largest bridge maintenance backlog in the country at $11 billion.
Construction costs among the highest nationally, but administrative efficiency far exceeds NY. Ranks 34th — improving rapidly from 50th five years ago. Meaningfully better than NY on every quality metric.
Spends $97,800/mile — 3.2× New York's rate — on a small, concentrated network. Asset management delivers results: ranked 13th nationally, bridge deficiency halved.
Sources & Methodology
Reason Foundation, 28th Annual Highway Report (2025, using 2022 FHWA data) — overall and category rankings
Reason Foundation, 27th Annual Highway Report (2024, using 2020 FHWA data) — per-lane-mile spending ratios
FHWA Highway Statistics 2023, Table HM-20 — public road mileage
Pew Charitable Trusts, TAMP Analysis (Jul 2025) — bridge funding gap estimates
NYSDOT FY2025 Capital Plan · NJDOT FY2025 Capital Program · CTDOT FY2025 Capital Program
ConsumerAffairs / FHWA — road condition percentages