Hawaii has the smallest state highway system in the nation and spends nearly the most among all the states to maintain its roads. But the Aloha State still ranked 48th out of 50 in overall performance and efficiency for its state highways, a new study by a Los Angeles-based think tank found.

The Reason Foundation’s Annual Highway Report, released today, found that Hawaii’s urban state-maintained system had the worst rate of decline in the country from 1989 to 2009. That urban system includes the vast majority of Hawaii’s 1,011 state-run miles — and major arteries on Oahu such as H-1, H-2 and Pali Highway.

Reason, a nonprofit group that promotes libertarian policies, also found Hawaii’s roads to have the worst pavement conditions of all 50 states. The bottom ranking backs up previous findings by other nonprofit groups and likely will surprise few drivers on Oahu.

The Reason study also ranked Hawaii as having the nation’s second-highest percentage of deficient bridges in 2009, at 38 percent. Only Rhode Island had a higher percentage, at 49 percent.

Those discouraging grades for state roads came despite officials spending in 2009 nearly seven times the national average, per mile, on administrative costs; more than three times the average on construction costs; and twice the average in maintenance, the report found.

"If I were a resident of Hawaii, I’d be asking, ‘What did you do with my money?’" David Hartgen, the study’s lead author, said Monday.

Hartgen, a Reason senior fellow and emeritus transportation professor at the University of North Caro­lina, Charlotte, said he compiled data reported to the Federal Highway Administration through 2009, the most recent year that included the similar data he needed from all 50 states. The study does not look at county-run roads.

On Thursday state Department of Transportation officials acknowledged, as they have in recent months, that Hawaii’s highways need serious improvement.

"Especially in the urban core of Hono­lulu," DOT spokes­woman Caro­line Sluyter said in an email Monday. "Over the years and for numerous reasons maintenance was deferred."

Sluyter didn’t specify further. However, department officials have pointed to state leaders’ decision to divert more than $143 million between 1996 and 2003 from the state Highways Special Fund to the general fund as a major reason they are still playing catch-up on repairs.

The Reason report found that Hawaii:

» Ranked 47th out of 50 in paying for capital and bridge work, spending nearly $274,000 per mile.

» Ranked 43rd for state road maintenance work, spending more than $55,000 per mile.

» Ranked 49th in administrative costs, spending more than $79,000 per mile. Only Connecticut paid more in those costs, at $81,000.

» Ranked 45th for total spending, paying $461,992 per mile.

The DOT disputed Reason’s findings on the Hawaii administrative costs findings, saying the department spends less than half of what the study claims.

Hartgen said his report didn’t look at state DOT spending alone. Other agencies responsible for some state roads — prisons, state parks and universities — were included, too. However, DOT covers most of the state spending, overseeing 945 of the 1,011 miles of state roads, according to the report.

Sluyter pointed to higher shipping costs to the islands as a reason Hawaii spends more on its roadwork and construction than other states.

"As everyone who drives knows, there is no good time for us to do the badly needed work," she also said. "The state DOT has embarked on an ambitious repair schedule which is under way and with many significant projects that will be happening very soon. The good news is that we will finally be repairing major traffic corridors. The bad news is that, unfortunately, the work will necessitate lane closures."

In perhaps a surprise to most island drivers, the Reason study ranked Hawaii 28th for congestion — about the middle of the pack. Nearly 48 percent of the urban interstate system was deemed overly congested, Hartgen said.

Hawaii also tied for first place with about 20 other states for its rural roads, with none of them considered to be poor. However, Hartgen said the stretch labeled "rural" comprised no more than 15 miles of Hawaii’s total state road system.

The study argues that the nation’s road conditions are gradually improving rather than getting worse. But unlike the nation overall, Hawaii has seen its state roads get dramatically worse in the past 20 years or so, Hartgen said.

In 1989 the state didn’t report any of its roads in poor condition. In 2009, however, the state rated more than 27 percent in poor condition — the highest increase in the country for that time period, he said.

Hawaii has been ranked in the bottom five states of Reason’s annual report each year since 2000 except for 2004, when it ranked 43rd, according to officials at the nonprofit.

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On the Net

» To read the full report, go to reason.org/files/20th_annual_highway_report.pdf.