GREENVILLE, S.C. - South Carolina will have an extra $94 million over the next two years for repairing its rural roads through a federal program, officials said.

The state will have an extra $47 million a year for the next two years, starting in October, officials said. The money will be used to widen lanes, improve intersections and make other improvements on secondary roads across the state, said Michael Covington, deputy director of the South Carolina Department of Transportation.

The extra money will come through a program extended by the White House on Thursday that allows South Carolina to get back 90 percent of the money it spends to match federal highway dollars, a more favorable rate than any other state has, according to the office of U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C.

The rate for South Carolina would have been 80 percent if the program had not been extended, DeMint's office said.

South Carolina gets about $450 million a year in federal highway money. The program will allow the state to count costs to upgrade state roads to federal standards as part of its matching money.