Government investments in transportation build a stronger economy by allowing for safe and efficient movement of goods and people. Governments have promoted transportation since ancient times. Once cities were fortified to protect citizens, the next step in civilization was to create local streets to support community and longer roads to support trade. Ports were built to facilitate trade by water. The national and state governments granted land, money, and monopolies to create canals, roads, and railroads. These helped launch the nation into the forefront of international trade and allowed all of America to share in economic prosperity. As cities developed, public transit, first encouraged through government grants and then owned by governments, allowed dense development to be balanced out by suburban living.

In the 20th century governments encouraged air travel by providing airports and making equipment and airways safe. The development of the Interstate Highway System beginning in the 1950s made the current American economy and style of life possible. Most of our goods travel by truck and most Americans commute from their suburban homes to work on an Interstate highway.

Infrastructure allows safe and efficient movement of people and goods across the state and helps maintain a livable environment. Our central location makes us an important hub for travel by truck and car. We have an extensive network of highways and local roads that keeps traffic congestion lower than elsewhere in the country. Recent investments like the ROADS program have improved the quality of our highways. In fact, highway spending has nearly doubled in ten years. Sadly, we have left much of our infrastructure to decay to among the worst of any state. It will take years to address the long backlog of deficient roads and crumbling bridges. We also have put too many eggs in the highway basket. We use more energy than most states due to the lack of public transit, which also limits development of our cities and suburbs and puts our economy and livability at risk if fuel prices rise.

37th--Overall in highway performance according to rankings by the Reason Foundation in 2008. This continues a pattern of decline through the  2000s, in spite of increased investment. Areas of strength are spending on highway maintenance and traffic congestionWe fall below most other states in condition of rural roads and interstates in the urban areas as well as deficient bridges and traffic fatalities.

14th--Oklahoma ranks 14th among the states in federal highway funding per person at $147 in 2009, according to the US Department of Transportation. Oklahoma is 12th in percentage of roads that are federally funded (28 percent).

34.9%--of Oklahoma roadways were in mediocre or poor condition in 2007 according to the US Department of Transportation, almost twice the national average of 17.6%. CQ Press reports that Oklahoma ranks 5th worse among the states in road condition. Bridges also are in poor condition , with 30.6 percent of bridges deficient. Oklahoma ranks 4th among states with over 7,200 deficient bridges.

10th--According to the US Bureau of the Census, Oklahomans had the 10th shortest commute in 2009, 21 minutes. The national average was 25 minutes. Only one out of 250 work trips was by public transit, ranking Oklahoma 2nd lowest in transit use.

• Transportation Agencies and Services

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