srkmish

I just purchased a new bike and want to go from clemson to anderson. However, as i am an international student, i am not familiar with the laws you need to abide by. First of all, is it legal to drive bike on a highway as there would be no sidewalk once i leave the city. What other rules should i keep in mind and are there any risks biking in south carolina?

spinnaker

What do you consider a "highway"? Bicycles are prohibited on limited access roads most places easy of the Mississippi. Limited access would include interstates which are designated by a red white and blue signs.



You region will also most likely have "feeder" highways which may or may not be an interstate road but carries the same type of signage and is limited access.

spinnaker

Here are two routes from Clemson to Anderson.

https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Ande...34.6834382!3e1

Route 28 looks fairly rural white 76 appears to be a divided highway that I would avoid. 28 looks really nice judging by the photos nice wide shoulder. This is a road in the US and really not considered a "highway". Maybe 60 years ago it would be considered one but not today.

rm -rf

Interstate highways and some other roads will have signs at the entrance ramps, prohibiting bikes and low powered vehicles (5 hp or less for example).

Bike riding is better on 2 lane roads (or perhaps on the shoulder of 4 lane roads). It's better to not ride right on the white line at the edge of the road, ride closer to the right side tire track. This makes cars move left to pass you, instead of trying to stay in the same lane.

Sidewalk riding
Unless you are riding very slowly, near walking speed, sidewalks can be dangerous where cars cross the sidewalk and at intersections. The main reason is that car drivers look to the left to see if cars are approaching, and just take a quick look to the right. And they just don't see faster moving bikes, they aren't expecting them.

Strava Route Builder
You may know about strava.com, where riders upload their GPS recordings of their rides. Strava has built a "heat map" showing the most popular bike roads, based on a year of rides. (You can bookmark/favorite any zoomed view, since the URL changes as you move the map.) Click "toggle labels" to see the town and road names.

Now they have a Route Builder that chooses roads based on bike popularity. It usually makes a very nice route. These routes can have a lot of turns, which isn't a problem for a GPS device, but not as good when using a paper cue sheet.

The Route Builder is way better than using Google Maps to pick a route.

Here's the route from Anderson to Clemson, just by clicking the starting and ending point.
Anderson SC to Clemson SC

Here's a screen shot of drawing the route, with the heat map displayed. Red roads are most popular, blue roads somewhat less popular.

spinnaker

I agree about sidewalk riding. Bikes have no place on the sidewalk with maybe the exception of riding very short distances to get from one store to another. There of course are exceptions where sidewalks are also designated for bicycles or there is little to no foot traffic on a sidewalk along an extremely busy road. But for the most part,if you can't ride in the street then you should not be riding in that area at all, find another route.

jade408

Not many sidewalks in SC.

fishboat

Be very careful in SC. Last I heard(few years back), SC was tied with Wyoming for highest number of road fatalities. With respect to cyclist fatalities, it rates near the top of all states. I was visiting the Greenville & occasionally Charlotte(NC) on business in recent years. One local joke is if you're having a slow day, one form of entertainment was to grab a lawn chair, set it up near a busy intersection, and watch the one-car accidents. One reason I didn't move to Charlotte (and live in SC) was the roads(design..little in the way of bike lanes or trails..but low taxes...) and watching the traffic on them...seemed like a good place to get hit. The move was free..I passed.

ironwood

Many states have their traffic laws pertaining to cyclists on the internet. Some state transportation departments have a guide for cycling on the net also. In some states cities and towns are allowed to restrict cycling on sidewalks.

staehpj1

If by "highways" you mean highways with the "US" designation like for example "US 90", they are often good roads to ride and generally legal to ride in all states. If you mean highways with the "I" designation like "I 95", those are typically off limits east of the Mississippi river. Rules vary west of the Mississippi, but in general most places in the west allow you to ride on the interstate when there isn't a reasonable alternative. In many places the "reasonable alternative" disqualifier either isn't in effect or isn't generally enforced.

shelbyfv

You mention that you are an "international student." This raises the question of ethnicity, the large elephant sitting in the corner of the room. Riding alone in SC may be OK if you look like Bubba. If not, find a group to ride with. Clemson may be a bubble of enlightenment and tolerance but you may not want to test how far it extends.

DropBarFan

In DC area lots of cyclists ride on sidewalks, they're often wide & smooth & serve as de facto bike paths. Haven't bike-toured in SC but driven thru many times: roads seemed pretty decent for biking if not great. However South Carolina is about the last state I'd choose to tour in. Hot/humid & featureless + police/plantation mentality. Worst road-trip ever was in SC. Average folks are nice but cops love to ticket & lock up visitors, no "Southern hospitality".