South Carolina ranks 1st in the nation in highway performance and cost-effectiveness in the Annual Highway Report by Reason Foundation.

South Carolina ranks 47th in fatality rate, 24th in deficient bridges, 9th in rural Interstate pavement condition, 11th in urban Interstate pavement condition, and 17th in urbanized area congestion.

On spending, South Carolina ranks 1st in total disbursements per mile and 5th in administrative disbursements per mile.

South Carolina’s best rankings are total disbursements per mile (1st), capital-bridge disbursements per

mile (1st), maintenance disbursements per mile (5th), and administrative disbursements per mile (5th).

South Carolina’s worst rankings are fatality rate (47th) and rural arterial lane-width (27th).

South Carolina’s state-controlled highway mileage makes it the 4th largest system.

South Carolina’s Complete Results Ranking
Overall Rank in 2013: 1
Overall Rank in 2012: 4
Overall Rank in 2011: 5
Performance by Category in 2013 Ranking
Total Disbursement per Mile 1
Capital-Bridge Disbursements per Mile 1
Maintenance Disbursements per Mile 5
Administrative Disbursements per Mile 5
Rural Interstate Percent Poor Condition 9
Rural Other Principal Arterial Percent Poor Condition 7
Rural Other Principal Arterial Percent Narrow Lanes 27
Urban Interstate Percent Poor Condition 11
Urban Congestion, Annual Delay Per Auto Commuter 17
Bridges Percent Deficient 24
Fatality Rate per 100 Million Vehicle-Miles of Travel 47

The Annual Highway Report is based on spending and performance data submitted by state highway agencies to the federal government for 2013. For more details on the calculation of each of the 11 performance measures used in the report, as well as the overall performance measure, please refer to the appendix in the main report. The report’s dataset includes Interstate, federal and state roads but not county or local roads. All rankings are based on performance measures that are ratios rather than absolute values: the financial measures are disbursements per mile, the fatality rate is fatalities per 100 million vehicle-miles of travel, the urban congestion measure is the annual delay per auto commuter, and the others are percentages. For example, the state ranking 1st in deficient bridges has the smallest percentage of deficient bridges, not the smallest number of deficient bridges.

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