Highway Conditions Improve Slightly for the Second Year in a Row
- The State is responsible for maintaining more than 42,700 lane miles of highway.
- Compared to the prior year, the number of highway lane miles rated poor to fair decreased by 4.7 percent in 2021.
- In 2021, 56.8 percent of the State’s highway lane miles were rated good to excellent, a 2 percentage point increase since 2020.
Bridge Conditions Have Improved Since 2017, But Are Worse Than in Other States
- In 2021, New York State was responsible for maintaining 8,527 bridges.*
- A bridge is considered to be in poor condition (previously known as structurally deficient) if it has deterioration to one or more major components. The fact that a bridge is in poor condition does not imply that it is unsafe or likely to collapse. A poor bridge, when left open to traffic, typically requires posting for weight limits, significant maintenance and repair to remain in service and eventual rehabilitation or replacement to address deficiencies. In 2021, 7.8 percent of State-maintained bridges were rated poor. This is an improvement from 8.5 percent in 2017, but it compares unfavorably to the 4.5 percent share for all other states combined.
* Based upon the U.S. Federal Highway Administration’s National Bridge Inventory, all bridges where the owner is State, State Park, Other State and State Toll are included as State-maintained bridges.