$22 billion shortfall seen for roads

By JOHN O’CONNOR - joconnor@thestate.com

South Carolina faces a $22 billion shortfall in maintaining its roads and bridges over the next decade, according to a report by a highway advocacy group.

The report was compiled by The Road Information Program, or TRIP, a national nonprofit funded by road construction firms, equipment manufacturers and the insurance industry.

The report concluded that, with no additional money, state roads would become more dangerous and residents would be stuck in traffic more often over the next two decades. Those conclusions are similar to an analysis by the state Transportation Department.

The report contained a list of roads most over capacity, including Farrow Road in Richland County.

“Poor infrastructure negatively impacts our ability to grow,” said Hunter Howard, president of the S.C. Chamber of Commerce.

Advocates for new road funding backed a number of options, including:

• Tapping the general fund, especially in surplus years

• Allowing more public-private partnerships, which would likely include toll roads

• Dedicating a portion of the sales tax on cars, up to $100 million a year, for roads

“This isn’t a cure-all for the roads, but it is a step in the right direction,” said Sen. Larry Grooms, R-Berkeley. “We’re trying to look at every option.”

The House has passed the car sales tax proposal, but the bill has stalled in the Senate.

Senate Finance chairman Hugh Leatherman, R-Florence, said the proposal, backed by House Speaker Bobby Harrell, R-Charleston, was “half-baked.” The Legislature has passed hundreds of millions in tax cuts the last two years, contributing to the state’s budget crunch, Leatherman said. Agency budgets have been cut across the board, and lawmakers have not been able to find enough money to buy a full year’s fuel for school buses.

The state, he said, should not take even more money from its budget.

“It needs to be done,” Leatherman said. “As far as I’m concerned, it won’t ever come out of the general fund because we don’t have that money.”

Leatherman said the state needs to consider user fees, such as tolls, and possibly raise the 16-cent-a-gallon gas tax. The gas tax was last increased in 1987.

Grooms believed the Transportation Department was being denied funding to build a case for raising the gas tax.

The gas tax has not kept pace with the cost of road inflation, he said, and the state should tap several sources for road funding.

Reach O’Connor at (803) 771-8358.