Milestones
SCDOT and its predecessor organizations, the Department of Highways and Public Transportation, and before that, the Department of Highways, have always worked to some degree to serve the needs and interests of non-motorized transportation. Our history pages contain details of major pedestrian safety campaigns and awards for projects such as pedestrian bridges. Our Safety Section produced bicycle safety material for the youth of the state. Yet this effort received a major boost with the establishment of the position of Bicycle and Pedestrian Coordinator in 1992.
In February 2003, the South Carolina Department of Transportation Commission approved a resolution affirming that bicycling and walking accommodations should be a routine part of the Department's planning, design, construction and operating activities, and will be included in the everyday operations of its transportation system.
After the passage of the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991, SCDOT partnered with local counties and municipalities to provide numerous sidewalk, streetscape, and bicycle facility projects through the Transportation Enhancement Program, and its successor the Transportation Alternatives Program.
Over the years the 50 states including South Carolina have been ranked by the League of American Bicyclists (LAB) on factors that are indicative of the ‘Bicycle Friendliness’ of each state. You can read about it on the League of American Bicyclists website.
Communities across the state have begun intensifying efforts support bicycle transportation. First Spartanburg, then Columbia, were chosen for 'Bronze' level Bicycle Friendly Communities by the League of American Bicyclists. They were later joined by Rock Hill and Greenville, also with a ‘Bronze’ designation. Topping it all off, in 2015 Hilton Head Island joined the group with at the ‘Gold’ level—the first for South Carolina. You can read more about these Bicycle Friendly Communities on the LAB website, as well as winners of the Bicycle Friendly Business and Bicycle Friendly University designations.
In 2021, SCDOT adopted a new "Complete Streets" Policy The "Complete Streets" policy requires SCDOT to work with the state's regional transportation planning partners and regional transit providers to identify and include walking, bicycling and transit needs as part of their regional visioning plans. These plans will be tailored to the unique needs of each area of the state and will serve as a foundation for highway planning and design, construction, maintenance, and daily operations.
In addition, the "Complete Streets" Policy directed the agency to work with stakeholders to develop the state's first Pedestrian and Bicycle Safety Action Plan (PBSAP) . The PBSAP, published in 2022, summarizes the extensive data analysis undertaken to identify the top factors and locations for pedestrian and bicycle traffic collisions and proven countermeasures to address these crash types