SCDOT updates Roadway Design Manual

March 13, 2021/Amy Johnson Ely/Comments Off

Last month we reported that SCDOT adopted the Departmental Directive for Complete Streets, culminating a 4 year campaign. Then all three departments within SCDOT (Engineering, Safety, and Planning) got busy making updates that reflect that overarching new Departmental Directive. This has been occurring in the past 2 years while we worked with the Bike/Ped Advisory Committee, spearheaded by our SC Livable Communities alliance. However, most recently those efforts began integrating and ramping up significantly. SCDOT should be commended for these improvements.

This month, SCDOT finalized a recent update to their Roadway Design Manual (RDM), and you can see that here.

Here is a summary of those updates to SCDOT’s February 2021 RDM :

Two new sections were ADDED:

Section 13.2, Bicycle Accommodations
Section 13.3, Pedestrian Accommodations

The following sections were UPDATED / edited to improve bike/ped accommodations:

Chapter 2: Context Sensitive Solutions
Chapter 7: Cross Section Elements
Chapter 10: Interchanges
Chapter 11: Special Design Elements
Chapter 13: Multimodal Transportation
Chapter 14: Local Roads & Streets
Chapter 15: Collector Roads & Streets
Chapter 16: Rural & Urban Arterials
Chapter 17: Freeways
Chapter 18: 3R projects (non-freeways)

Be sure to contact your SCDOT Commissioner today and express your thanks to SCDOT Secretary Christy Hall for leading these changes. All of these improvements will contribute to safer streets in South Carolina.