© 2015 The American Road & Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA). All rights reserved. No part of this document may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior written permission of ARTBA.

Highlights from FHWA’s 2014 National Bridge Inventory Data:

Of the 9,338 bridges in the state, 1,031 bridges, or 11% are classified as structurally deficient.

This means one or more of the key bridge elements, such as the deck, superstructure or

substructure, is considered to be in “poor” or worse condition.1

There are 891 bridges, or 10% of all state bridges, classified as functionally obsolete. This means

the bridge does not meet design standards that are in line with current practice.

State and local contract awards for bridge construction totaled $513.87 million over the past

five years, 15 percent of highway and bridge contract awards, compared to a national average of

29 percent.

Since 2004, 665 new bridges have been constructed in the state and 61 bridges have undergone

major reconstruction.

The state estimates that it would cost approximately $966.7 million to fix a total of 1,660

bridges in the state.2

Bridge Inventory:

All Bridges Structurally deficient Bridges

Type of Bridge Total

Number Area (sq. meters)

Daily Crossings

Total Number

Area (sq. meters)

Daily Crossings

Rural Bridges

Interstate 376 444,000 7,404,958 18 21,677 301,850

Other principal arterial 576 937,180 3,723,775 47 68,745 227,000

Minor arterial 688 577,277 2,512,755 95 85,172 300,950

Major collector 2,200 850,808 2,832,855 252 90,194 305,945

Minor collector 475 124,904 184,582 42 8,921 13,619

Local 2,686 586,191 803,687 362 60,496 84,191

Urban Bridges

Interstate 353 1,128,392 11,765,487 8 16,502 483,600

Other freeway 80 286,508 1,362,250 7 8,609 152,500

Principal arterial 359 834,893 6,529,110 30 63,462 510,000

Minor arterial 454 566,689 5,003,714 49 46,338 497,700

Collector 534 254,626 2,374,801 56 20,616 238,487

Rural 557 141,263 590,159 65 12,260 43,157

Total 9,338 6,732,731 45,088,133 1,031 502,992 3,158,999

1 According to the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), a bridge is classified as structurally deficient if the condition rating for the deck, superstructure, substructure or culvert and retaining walls is rated 4 or below or if the bridge receives an appraisal rating of 2 or less for structural condition or waterway adequacy. During inspections, the condition of a variety of bridge elements are rated on a scale of 0 (failed condition) to 9 (excellent condition). A rating of 4 is considered “poor” condition and the individual element displays signs of advanced section loss, deterioration, spalling or scour. 2 This data is provided by bridge owners as part of the FHWA data and is required for any bridge eligible for the Highway Bridge Replacement and Rehabilitation Program. However, for some states this amount is very low and likely not an accurate reflection of current costs.

State Bridge Profile

South Carolina

© 2015 The American Road & Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA). All rights reserved. No part of this document may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior written permission of ARTBA.

Proposed bridge work:

Type of Work Number Cost (millions) Daily Crossings Area (sq. meters)

Bridge replacement 826 $628.3 1,723,899 323,752

Widening & rehabilitation 598 $255.8 4,074,277 467,591

Rehabilitation 231 $82.6 1,347,203 165,583

Deck rehabilitation/replacement 0 $0.0 0 0

Other work 5 $0.1 14,200 2,574

Top 10 Most Traveled Structurally Deficient Bridges in the State:

County Year Built

Daily Crossings

Type of Bridge Location

Greenville 1960 93,100 Urban Interstate I-85 over Trib. Laurel Creek

Lexington 1958 79,900 Urban Interstate I-26 over Southern Railway (No. 1)

Richland 1958 78,200 Urban Interstate I-26 over CN and L Railroads

Lexington 1959 75,300 Urban Interstate I-26 over SC-302

Lexington 1959 74,800 Urban Interstate I-26 over US-1

Richland 1961 46,300 Urban Interstate I-126 over the Seaboard Coast Line Railroad

Richland 1977 42,400 Urban

freeway/expressway SC-277 over I-77

Spartanburg 1953 33,700 Urban

freeway/expressway SC-85 over the Southern Railroad and S-42-995

Spartanburg 1953 32,000 Urban

freeway/expressway SC-85 over S-2

Greenville 1939 31,900 Urban other

principal arterial US-29 over the Enoree River

Sources: All data is from the 2014 National Bridge Inventory, released by the Federal Highway Administration in January 2015.

Note that specific conditions on bridge may have changed as a result of recent work. Cost estimates of bridge work provided as

part of the data and have been adjusted to 2014$ for inflation and estimated project costs. Contract awards data is for state

and local government awards and comes from McGraw Hill. Note that additional bridge investment may be a part of other

contract awards if a smaller bridge project is included with a highway project, and that would not be accounted for in the total

in this profile.