These Are The Loneliest Roads In North Carolina and South Carolina
(Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
One of the things I love about living in Clover, South Carolina is there is never any traffic. At least not when I am on the road. I was not entirely surprised to find out that one of the least traveled roads in the country is close to home. These are the loneliest roads in North Carolina and South Carolina.
Atlas Obscura did a study on the loneliest roads in every state across the nation. Here are the states with the loneliest roads in the United States. They include South Dakota, Nevada, Montana, North Dakota and of course Alaska boasts the loneliest road in the entire nation. That makes perfect sense.
The website says the study was pretty simple. They monitored traffic flow on major arteries all across the country and determined the roads less traveled in each state.
Here in North Carolina you can find the quietest road along State Route 172. For 39 miles between Folkstone to Starling your drive should be nice and easy. That is the spot in North Carolina with the loneliest road.
The loneliest road in South Carolina is located just a few miles from where I live. Atlasobscura.com says 271 miles from Hardeeville to Bowling Green, South Carolina on Hwy 321 is the loneliest stretch of road in the Palmetto State. These are the loneliest roads in North Carolina and South Carolina.
Data Shows North Carolina Has The Most Dangerous Rural Roads In America
Driving these days can be a terrifying experience. Especially in Charlotte, it seems the drivers get worse and more aggressive by the day and traffic laws are a mere suggestion. But it’s actually the rural roads that are of concern in North Carolina. New research by Florida Personal Injury Lawyers Anidjar & Levine looked at 10 years’ worth of data including the number of annual miles driven on rural roads and the number of rural road accidents for each state. They used this data to determine which states had the highest occurrence of rural crashes. And it’s North Carolina that has the most dangerous rural roads in America.
That’s right North Carolina ranked first on this list. And that’s not something to celebrate. The state has 70.45 accidents for every billion miles driven. Another interesting statistic is that 44.3% of these crashes occur on roads with a 55 mph speed limit. That’s 64.7% higher than the national average which is 26.9%. In some ways, this makes sense as there are a lot of rural roads in North Carolina. But when you consider the sheer size of other states it is a little crazy that we topped the list.
To create this list the researchers at Anidjar & Levine gathered data from 2012-2021 from agencies including NCDOT, FARS, the U.S. Census Bureau, and FHWA. The rural road accident rate was calculated by dividing the annual miles driven on rural roads by the number of vehicles involved in rural road accidents for each state. Keep reading below to see the top five states with the most dangerous roads in America. North Carolina isn’t the only Carolina in the top 5 either. Stay safe out there North Carolina. Thanks to our friends at Journo Research for sharing this research with us.
Top 5 Most Dangerous Rural Roads In America
Catherine Lane is the morning show co-host and midday host on Country 1037 in Charlotte, North Carolina. She has been with the station for the past 24 years and is a recipient of the Academy of Country Music Major Market Personality of the Year award. Catherine has been on air in both radio and television in the Queen City for 38 years. As a content creator for Country 1037, Catherine writes blogs on local events and restaurants. She also writes about great travel spots and out of the way places in the Carolinas. Anything outdoors, travel, food, animals or the many country artists from the Carolinas.