SDDOT - Key Facts

Did You Know...?

...South Dakota has 83,609 miles of highways, roads and streets. This statewide system carried over 8.4 billion vehicle miles of travel in 2003. The SDDOT is responsible for 7,857 miles of the roadway system. Although only 9.4% of the total mileage, the state highway system carries nearly 70% of all vehicle miles traveled.

...South Dakota has 5,905 bridges on the state and local government highway system. Of these, 1,793 bridges are on the state system and 4,112 are on the local government system. Even though the local government system has over twice as many bridges, the state bridges are larger, meaning they have more deck area (driving surface). The total bridge deck area for state bridges is 10,500,000 square feet, while the total bridge deck area for local government bridges is 6,875,000 square feet.

...That the longest bridge in South Dakota is located on highway SD 44 over the Missouri River between Winner and Platte.

...There are nine highway bridges across the Missouri River in South Dakota.

...The typical driving lane on a state highway in South Dakota is 12 feet wide.

...That the Interstate system in South Dakota consists of 263.8 miles on I-29 and I-229, and 414.8 miles on I-90 and I-190, for a total of 679 miles.

...That the Interstate system accounts for only 8.6% of the state highway miles in South Dakota, yet carries approximately 40% of all vehicle miles traveled in the state on state highways. To illustrate the growth in traffic, in 1965 the Interstate carried about 900 million vehicle miles as compared to 2.3 billion vehicle miles in 2003.

...The per gallon federal motor fuel excise tax is 18.4 cents on gasoline, 13.6 cents on LPG, 24.4 cents on diesel fuel, 13.0 cents on gasohol, 19.4 cents on aviation gas, and 4.4 cents on jet fuel. These monies go to the Federal Highway Trust Fund.

...The current per gallon state motor fuel excise tax, which went into effect April 1, 1999, is 22 cents on gasoline, 20 cents on LPG, 22 cents on diesel fuel, 20 cents on gasohol, 6 cents on aviation gas, and 4 cents on jet fuel. Jet fuel for non-commercial use is taxed at 21.9 cents.

...The Department typically budgets about $7 million for winter snow and ice removal each fiscal year.

...The South Dakota Department of Transportation has a budget of over $471 million for FY2007. $150 million of the budget is for General Operations with the remaining $321 million for Construction Contracts. Approximately 70% of the budget is used to contract for road and airport construction as well as road maintenance.

...The Department of Transportation employs 997 full-time and 77 seasonal employees.