Dickey: SC Rural roads, communities need action from Congress

Policymakers in Washington ignored key facts about our state when they recently ducked their responsibility to provide long-term, ongoing funding for America’s highways, bridges and public transit systems. Instead, they passed a bill to provide funding through October and barely pay for the upkeep of those systems; that’s not good enough for South Carolina.

The “Rural Connections: Challenges and Opportunities in America’s Heartland” report found traffic crashes and fatalities in South Carolina are significantly higher on rural roads than all other roads in the state. In 2013, our non-interstate rural roads had the second highest traffic fatality rate nationally. The report also found significant deficiencies in our rural bridges. In 2014, 12 percent were rated as structurally deficient — the 19th highest rate in the nation.

The federal surface transportation program — on which Congress punted — is a critical source of funding for rural roads, and it is on life support. According to the stakeholders who released the rural roads report, Congress needs to do much more.

In the view of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which also leads the Americans for Transportation Mobility Coalition: “Improving the transportation system will create jobs today and leave a lasting asset for future generations.” In AAA’s view: “The 61 million people who live in America’s rural heartland deserve a transportation system that is safe, efficient and reliable.”

The quality of life in South Carolina’s and America’s small communities and rural areas and the health of the rural economy are highly reliant on the quality of transportation systems — even more than urban areas. The TRIP report made practical recommendations to help bring our rural communities up to par: modernizing and extending key routes to accommodate personal and commercial travel, improving public transit access to rural areas and providing adequate funding for rural transportation assets.

It’s time for South Carolinians to tell Congress to take seriously the need to fix our rural roads — and all of our transportation infrastructure. No more delays, no more excuses.

This story was originally published August 8, 2015 at 7:10 PM with the headline "Dickey: SC Rural roads, communities need action from Congress."