Leatherman says plan for South Carolina’s roads will work

When the state’s Senate, House and governor couldn’t come to a consensus on a viable road repair bill this year, the likelihood that South Carolinians would see any type of solution to fix the state’s notoriously shoddy roads system seemed grim.

Last month a new plan emerged that could give a $4 billion boost for road projects over the next 10 years.

The state Senate passed, at the behest of Finance Committee Chairman and Senate President Pro-tempore Hugh K. Leatherman Sr., a plan that would give $2.2 billion from the State Infrastructure Bank upfront for roads.

Leatherman said South Carolina Department of Transportation Secretary Christie Hall told him a one-time shot of $2.2 billion would free up the department by near that amount to use on road repairs – meaning about $4 billion total.

“We’re talking about $4 billion that will be instantaneous, if we can get it together with House and the Senate conference committee,” Leatherman said. “I think we will.”

The plan prioritizes the replacement of 400 failing bridges across the state, but also includes interstate and rural road fixes. The funding would not cover construction of new roads.

The plan includes a finance-style payback of some $200 million a year taken from fines and user fees collected by the Department of Motor Vehicles. That figure would be combined with a portion of the state’s vehicle purchase sales taxes over a 10-year payback period to the State Infrastructure Bank.

Leatherman said he came up with the plan after realizing that an increase in the state’s gas tax wasn’t going to be an option this year. He wanted a “shot in the arm” for the state’s roads.

Leatherman said this plan isn’t meant to be a long-term fix, but it’s something to get started.

“We’ve got to come back and get a recurring stream of money to fix our roads every year,” Leatherman said.

Critics, including Gov. Nikki Haley, have said in the past that Leatherman and the State Infrastructure Bank holds too much power over which roads gets fixed in the state – accusing him using his authority on the bank and the Finance Committee to direct money to Florence County roads.

Leatherman said that despite past criticisms, he gets the feeling that support for this particular plan has been well received in Columbia and he’s confident it will pass.

“This is going to work,” he said.

This story was originally published May 21, 2016 at 10:05 PM with the headline "Leatherman says plan for South Carolina’s roads will work."