Lawmakers look to overhaul highway department

Ninety years ago this month, S.C. Gov. Olin D. Johnston launched what was almost certainly the most dramatic Highway Department reform initiative in South Carolina’s history when he ordered a company of machine-gun-wielding National Guardsmen to march on the agency and seize it by force.

This year, S.C. House Speaker Murrell Smith, R-Sumter, appears to be taking a more traditional approach to the Palmetto State’s age-old problem with roads. In May, he appointed a bipartisan committee to work on a plan to modernize the S.C. Department of Transportation (SCDOT) and its $2.76 billion annual budget.

“This committee will take a comprehensive look at how SCDOT can better serve the needs of our citizens — today and in the future,” Smith said in a release. “From innovation and technology to organizational structure and long-term planning, no idea is off the table.”

The last time that the legislature really looked at roads was in 2017. After three decades of not adjusting the state’s gas tax, lawmakers raised it from $0.16 to $0.28 per gallon — closer to the national average of $0.33. Currently, the average South Carolinian pays a total of about $200 a year in gas taxes to pay for road construction and maintenance, according to data from the S.C. Alliance to Fix Our Roads.

But as S.C. Secretary of Transportation Justin Powell told Statehouse Report on Oct. 9, the new gas tax dollars were mostly earmarked for long-overdue road repairs — not expansion of the already overburdened system.

“It was a fix-it-first bill to overcome 30 years of deferred maintenance on the system,” Powell said. “And we’ve worked hard to deliver on that.”

Since the legislature passed the bill, SCDOT has repaved almost 10,000 miles of roadways, with traffic fatalities falling 20% on completed projects. But now, Powell explained, the state needs to address several structural challenges to its transportation system.

First, despite being the country’s 11th smallest state, S.C. has the fourth largest state road network in the country, with 41,000 miles of asphalt that needs regular repaving and upkeep.

What’s more, with the nation’s fourth fastest-growing population, frustrated motorists from Greenville to Beaufort are demanding new and wider roads to ease the traffic congestion.

And finally, with the cost-per-mile of U.S. road projects more than doubling over the past decade according to the Federal Highway Administration, the state’s existing funding and planning mechanisms can’t meet demand.

“How do we accelerate and streamline project delivery across the state?” Powell said. “That’s what the committee is trying to solve.”

Preparing to legislate

Since August, the House Ad Hoc SCDOT Modernization Committee has held four public meetings around the state, gathering testimony from state agencies, business leaders and citizens.

“We’re listening to folks about what SCDOT is doing well and where it’s falling short,” said S.C. Rep. Shannon Erickson, the Beaufort County Republican who co-chairs the committee . “And we’re working to come up with ways to help the department move faster and make things happen, while making sure we can all afford it.”

The goal, she said in an interview, is to gather enough information to be able to legislate when lawmakers return in January.

“At this point,” she said, echoing the House speaker, “everything is on the table.”

As for what that “everything” is, state transportation experts tell Statehouse Report that the proposed solutions are likely to fall into two major buckets — one labelled “More Money” and another marked “More Bang for the Buck.”

On the revenue side, the committee is expected to consider higher fees on electric vehicles, which don’t contribute to roads via the gas tax, and additional “newcomer” taxes to offset some of the cost of population growth.

But the committee’s real focus is expected to be on the second bucket — making SCDOT’s existing dollars go further. And on that side of the equation, lawmakers are expected to look at two major areas where other states have achieved savings: procurement and permitting.

In terms of procurement, the goal is to speed up the process by shortening lengthy bidding periods that add time and costs to projects without adding value. And with permitting, lawmakers will consider taking advantage of a federal program that allows states to conduct federal environmental reviews.

Currently eight states, including California and Texas, participate in the program. They say it has allowed them to better align the timing of reviews with state priorities, ensuring that permitting is complete by the time major transportation projects are ready to break ground.

Also in the mix, and with significant public support at committee meetings to date: more state resources for public transportation and bike-ped options.

Charleston Area Regional Transit Authority Chairman Mike Seekings called that broader focus “critical.”

“If approached the right way, the modernization commission can make a huge difference in the state,” Seekings said. “But it can’t just be about building roads — public transit has to be a part of that conversation.”

Asked about transit, Erickson noted the large number of public comments the committee has received on the issue, and said it was part of a larger discussion about getting state and local transportation planning on the same page.

That’s an issue the committee will be taking up at a future meeting, she said, where members will hear from local officials about the positives and negatives of turning some state roads over to counties and cities, reducing the size of SCDOT’s maintenance network.

It’s a tricky idea due to cost and complexity, but one that many believe could be key to modernizing the system.

“How do we make it worthwhile for local governments to manage their own roads?” Erickson said. “Because in many cases, they could do it more efficiently. They’re afraid they just wouldn’t be able to afford it.”

She added, “It’s up to us to make sure we figure out a way to make that work.”

While no dates have been announced, the committee is expected to meet next in Charleston and Sumter.