S.C. outlines plans to improve from most highway deaths in U.S.

Noting that her state ranks the worst in highway fatalities, South Carolina Secretary of Transportation Christy Hall plans to improve 100 miles of the state’s most dangerous roads each year.

The project is part of her 2018 “State of SCDOT” report.

She says the state’s top priorities will be rural road safety, resurfacing, bridges and widening interstates.

Thanks to a gas tax increase approved last year, the state will gradually double its paving program over the next 10 years. During the ensuing decade, the agency plans to replace 465 bridges.

Major interstate widenings will include I-85/I-385 at Greenville, I-26/I-526 at Charleston and I-26/I-20 in the Columbia area, known in the state as “Malfunction Junction.”

SCDOT is currently at its highest level of road construction over the past decade, Hall says. The agency has about $3 billion worth of road and bridge work underway – three times more than in previous years.