July 29, 2026

By Lane Kimble

Wisconsin ranks in the bottom-half of the country for its overall highway conditions and how money is spent to fix them.

At 31st out of 50, Wisconsin’s biggest areas of concern in The Reason Foundation’s Annual Highway Report are urban interstate conditions (ranked 35th), urban arterial roads (45th), and rural arterials (40th). The state ranked 29th for structurally deficient bridges.

Wisconsin’s 31st overall ranking is a five-spot drop from the report’s 2025 findings. The report considers 13 factors including pavement conditions, bridge reports, fatality rates, and various ways money is spent.

While Wisconsin ranks slightly better than Iowa and Illinois overall, the state lags far behind other neighbors such as Minnesota, Indiana and Michigan.

On the plus side, Wisconsin improved its urban fatality rate from 10th overall to 5th.