SOUTH CAROLINA HAS NATION’S HIGHEST RATE OF RURAL TRAFFIC FATALITIES AND SIGNIFICANT RURAL ROAD AND BRIDGE DEFICIENCIES; ADDRESSING NATION’S ANTICIPATED $50 BILLION DECREASE IN STATE TRANSPORTATION REVENUES DUE TO COVID-19 SEEN AS VITAL TO FUNDING NEEDED REPAIRS & MODERNIZATION TO IMPROVE RURAL CONDITIONS, SUPPORT ECONOMIC RECOVERY AND BOOST SAFETY

America’s rural transportation system is in need of repairs and modernization to support economic growth and improve traffic safety in the nation’s Heartland, but the US faces a $211 billion backlog in funding for needed repairs and improvements to the rural transportation system. This is according to a new report released today by TRIP, a national transportation research nonprofit. The report, Rural Connections: Challenges and Opportunities in America’s Heartland, evaluates the safety and condition of the nation’s rural roads and bridges and finds that America’s rural transportation system is in need of immediate improvements to address deficient roads and bridges, high crash rates, and inadequate connectivity and capacity.

The importance of the rural transportation system as the backbone of the nation’s energy, food and fiber supply chain has been heightened during the response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Addressing the nation’s rural transportation challenges will require a significant increase in investment, but the tremendous decrease in vehicle travel that has occurred due to the COVID-19 pandemic is estimated to reduce state transportation revenues by at least 30 percent – approximately $50 billion – over the next 18 months.

The chart below ranks states based on their rate of rural pavements in poor condition, share of rural bridges that are rated poor/structurally deficient, and fatality rates on non-Interstate, rural roads.

The report finds that the rate of traffic fatalities on South Carolina’s non-Interstate, rural roads is significantly higher than the fatality rate on all other roads in the state – 3.44 fatalities per 100 million vehicle miles of travel vs. 1.12 – and is the highest in the nation. Rural roads are more likely to have narrow lanes, limited shoulders, sharp curves, exposed hazards, pavement drop-offs, steep slopes and limited clear zones along roadsides. There were 593 fatalities on South Carolina’s non-Interstate, rural roads in 2018. South Carolina’s rural roads and bridges have significant deficiencies. Fifteen percent of South Carolina’s rural roads are rated in poor condition – the 20th highest rate in the nation- and 23 percent are in mediocre condition. Nine percent of South Carolina’s rural bridges are rated in poor/structurally deficient condition, the 19th highest rate in the nation. Bridges rated poor/structurally deficient have significant deterioration to the major components of the bridge and are often posted for lower weight or closed to traffic, restricting or redirecting large vehicles, including agricultural equipment, commercial trucks, school buses and emergency services vehicles.

“Rural road safety continues to be a priority in South Carolina. Three years into the state’s ten-year plan, safety specific improvements have been addressed on approximately 400 miles of rural roads,” said Jennifer Patterson, executive director of the South Carolina Alliance to Fix Our Roads. “During a time when it seems as if life has come to a halt, road work has not. We are thankful to the men and women who are working to ensure repairs and improvements to our roads and bridges continue moving forward. South Carolinians, our economy, and our ability to move past this crisis are riding on the essential work that they do.”

View the full SC Press release here. 

The filing period for the 2020 elections closed yesterday at noon, and several incumbents saw last-minute filings for the upcoming primaries. Here’s an overview of how the filings look for the 124 House seats and 46 Senate seats that will be on the ballot this year.

SC Senate
• There are three open seats.
• 10 Senators will NOT face opposition in the Primary and General Elections.
• 20 Senators will face opposition in the General Election.
• 13 Senators will face a primary challenge, with 9 of those races facing General Election opposition as well.

SC House of Representatives
• There are 11 open seats.
• 53 Representatives will NOT face opposition in the Primary and General Elections.
• 35 Representatives will face opposition in the General Election.
• 25 Representatives will face a primary challenge, with 13 of those races facing General Election opposition as well.

View SCFOR’s compilation of how the races stacked up in each district here. 

The SC House has passed their version of the state’s $10.2 billion general fund spending plan. The bill now resides in the SC Senate.

https://www.scfor.org/2020/03/16/house_budget_2020/

The SCDOT Commission held its February meeting on Thursday, February 20, and this was the first meeting that newly elected  SCDOT Commission Chairman, Tony Cox (Dist. 7), presided over. Among the items on the agenda was the approval of a public comment period to get the rural freight interstate program moving forward.

Specifically, the Commission approved a public comment period to amend the Statewide Transportation Improvement Program (STIP) to include Preliminary Engineering (PE) and Right of Way (ROW) phases for two interstate projects included in the Rural Interstate Freight Network Mobility Improvement Program. 

I-26 Corridor Improvement: Widening from Exit 125 Old Sandy Run Rd to Exit 139 Burke Rd (14 miles) in Lexington and Calhoun Counties. Click here to submit public comments. 

I-95 Corridor Improvement: Widening from the Georgia Line to Exit 8 US 278 (8 miles) in Jasper County.  Click here to submit public comments.

Approval of the public comment period is the first step in making these rural interstate widening projects a reality and ensures that these projects are ready to go after the tax credit sunsets in 2022.

In addition to these rural freight projects, the Commission also approved a public comment period for the I-77 Panthers interchange (at mile marker 81) in York County. This interchange is part of the economic development deal and will support the increased traffic volumes associated with the new development. No SCDOT funding will be used for this project, nor will it compete with ranked projects. Click here to submit public comments.

Following the public comment period, if there are no substantive comments received, these projects will be included in the STIP.

The SCDOT Commission held its first meeting of the new year on January 16, and one of the most important items on the agenda was the election of officers for 2020.

Commissioners elected Vice-Chairman Tony Cox (Dist. 7) to serve as Chairman and Commissioner Barnwell Fishburne (Dist. 6) as Vice-Chairman of the SCDOT Commission.

Cox has been serving on the Commission since the summer of 2017 and has been Vice-Chairman since January 2019. He has been in the real estate business for more than 36 years and serves as executive vice president for the real estate division of Burroughs and Chapin Company, Inc. in Myrtle Beach.

Fishburne has represented the 6th Congressional District since 2018.  He is the owner of Fishburne and Company Development Corporation in Walterboro, SC.

Both Cox and Fishburne were elected by acclamation.  The gavel will be formally passed to Commissioner Cox by outgoing Chairman Robby Robbins at the February meeting.

“Mr. Cox and Mr. Fishburne have each contributed greatly to the success of the Commission and I am confident they will continue to lead this Commission forward in their new roles as Chairman and Vice Chairman,” said outgoing Chairman Robby Robbins (Dist. 1) in a press release.

Historic Amount of Improvement to Interstates Over the Past 10 Years, But Much More is Needed

South Carolina’s Interstate Highway system is its’ economic lifeblood.  But the state’s dramatic growth, and too many years of too little state funding find the system clogged with congestion in urban areas, and in desperate need of repairs in many rural areas.

Over the past ten years, more than $3.5 Billion in road and bridge work has been underway, an historic amount for the state. But as car and truck traffic volumes grow so do the needs.  The S. C. Department of Transportation estimates $20 Billion worth of road work is needed for the entire Interstate system.

• $14 Billion needed to widen all rural four lane interstates to six lanes. This would include widening Interstates 85 and 95 entering the state from Georgia and another section of I-26 between Charleston and Columbia.
• $5 Billion dollars for urban interstate interchanges in Greenville, Columbia and North Charleston.
• $1Billion dollars to reduce congestion in urban areas around interchanges where adding additional lanes aren’t practical such as I-77 going into Charlotte which is already at eight lanes.

The state is currently in the third year of a phased-in 12 cents a gallon gas tax increase.  In three more years the higher tax is expected to pump almost $800 Million a year into a trust fund account which is DOT’s primary road improvement fund.

DOT Secretary Christy Hall recently told a State Senate Sub-Committee that the $450 Million dollars currently in the trust fund along with federal funding is allowing DOT to conduct about $1 Billion in road and bridge improvements.

Listen to the full story by Russ McKinney here. 

Source: SC Public Radio, December 13, 2019

Thanks to adjustments in funding methodology, beginning with the 2020 Pavement Program counties will have more flexibility when it comes to addressing roads in need of MORE than just preservation.

Over 600 miles of REHABILITATION AND RECONSTRUCTION PROJECTS have been approved for inclusion in the 2020 Pavement program.

Phase 1 rehab/reconstruction projects were approved in June and were open for an extended public comment period through July.  Phase 2 was approved last week at the September Commission meeting and is currently out for public comment.

Public Comments on Phase 2 will be accepted until October 21, 2019. Details on submitting public comments can be found here.

View the interactive map of PHASE 2 Projects here.

Pavements are a key component of South Carolina’s 10-year plan. To date, SCDOT has already doubled the paving program’s investment levels and is on track to nearly quadruple the entire program by 2023. None of which would be possible without the road funding bill of 2017.