Transportation center stalled

ORANGEBURG -- Twelve years and more than $50 million later, the site of the James E. Clyburn University Transportation Center remains vacant, no transportation research is underway and the center lost its federal designation.

The center, a collection of programs at South Carolina State University, was launched in 1998 as one of dozens of such centers around the country with money from the U.S. Department of Transportation. It was supposed to conduct research and train skilled workers, especially minority workers, in the transportation industry.

But the DOT cut off further funding after 2006. The programs have limped along since then with money left over from the transportation grant and other federal grants.

A federal audit on one of those grants, the National Summer Transportation Institute, found that the school's financial records were so messed up that accountants couldn't tell where millions of dollars went.

Joseph Pearman, assistant vice president for business and finance, said the school put in place a new financial recording system a few years ago. It's difficult to access records from the old system, he said, so he can't explain how much of the money that ran through the transportation center was spent or whether any of the money is left.

S.C. State officials acknowledge that the center does not offer the vibrant mix of research, education and community outreach activities they hope it will one day.

The university's president and the center's interim director are both fairly new to their posts and said they don't know what happened to many of the Transportation Center efforts launched in the past that are not running today.

Still they point to two accomplishments: the establishment of a transportation master's degree program where 17 students were enrolled this past year and from which 26 have graduated; and an Environmental Policy Institute, housed under the auspices of the transportation center and paid for with money from the U.S. Department of Energy. The Environmental Policy Institute program is linked to the transportation industry because it, in part, involves research on transporting radioactive material.

More than $50 million has flowed to the center over the years, about half of it for programs and half for construction of the first phase of a new transportation complex.

Despite the setbacks, S.C. State officials say they hope to begin construction soon of the first phase of a planned $80 million complex to be named in honor of Clyburn, the U.S. House Majority Whip. Clyburn is a graduate of S.C. State, South Carolina's only public historically black university.

'A chicken and egg thing'

The university's plans for what it will house in the first phase of the complex fall short of what once was envisioned -- a research center designed to find answers to the transportation issues of the future.

Instead, plans now call for a library to archive Clyburn's papers and a garage to service the bus fleet for the Santee Wateree Regional Transportation Authority. School officials said the archive also would house transportation research and the garage will double as a research facility for large trucks.

The university has $26.3 million for the first phase of the complex, $23.3 million from the DOT and about $3 million in state matching money, but school officials don't know where they will get the rest of the money to complete the $80 million project. About $5 million of the building money has been spent so far.

They said they hope to build a well-equipped facility with extra space that will attract some as-yet-unknown programs to benefit the school.

"The new building is the ammunition we need" to attract more grants and programs, S.C. State President George Cooper said. That will likely happen when the economy picks up. He's not sure, however, what might be attracted, he said.

Cooper said the university currently has no transportation research under way because money from the DOT's University Transportation Center grants ran out. That pot of money is the main funding source for federal university-based transportation centers. Landing a grant from it also designates such centers as federal University Transportation Centers.

S.C. State launched its center in 1998 with a grant from that program. It had to compete for renewal in 2006, but it wasn't successful. The DOT allowed the university to continue spending money that was left over until December 2009, after which it lost its designation as a federal transportation center, Cooper said.

Cooper, who took over the university's top post two years ago, said he can't explain what the school's transportation center programs accomplished or where the money went before he arrived on campus. He could not answer questions about the work of his predecessors.

S.C. State's former president, Andrew Hugine, now president at Alabama A&M University, didn't return multiple calls for comment.

Clyburn said he also doesn't know why S.C. State didn't land another grant in 2006. His role was bringing money to the university to launch the center. It was up to university staffers to complete solid grant applications for continued federal financial support, he said.

He said members of the university's Board of Trustees in 2006, or the board's former chairman, should be able to say why the school failed to land another grant.

Current board chairman Jonathan Pinson, who was on the board in 2006, didn't return multiple calls for comment at his home and business.

Former board chairman Maurice Washington said Hugine didn't tell the board that the university lost the grant. "Unless the president brought it to the board, we wouldn't know."

Losing one stream of money is "not a death sentence" for the center, Clyburn said. He said it would be "absolutely unfair and absolutely wrong" to characterize S.C. State's center as having no value because it wasn't awarded continued funding under the federal University Transportation Center program.

There are likely other funding sources available for transportation programs, Clyburn said. For instance, the Department of Energy could have money available for such projects in the future. And the DOT could have another round of grants. S.C. State could possibly regain the federal designation in the future, Clyburn said.

It's possible that one of the reasons the university wasn't awarded another grant in 2006 was because it didn't yet have a building in which to house programs. Many other campus transportation centers have been able to complete new buildings. "It's a chicken and egg thing," he said.

Down, but not out

The university held a ceremonial groundbreaking five years ago, and has had money on hand to build the first phase, but it has not begun construction of the complex.

Clyburn attributed construction delays to stall tactics by state officials. And he accused Gov. Mark Sanford of being behind those delays. "The building money is still there. It's sitting there waiting for Mark Sanford," Clyburn said.

Sanford spokesman Ben Fox said, "I'm not going to respond to allegations that have no basis in fact."

Cooper said he thinks the university has now cleared the hurdles and construction should begin in a few weeks. Cooper and Dale Wesson, the transportation center's interim director, said the first phase of the new complex would be used for transportation research.

In an interview, Cooper also made passing reference to a plan to house vehicles for a local public transportation agency.

Ann August, executive director of the Santee Wateree Regional Transportation Authority, confirmed that when the first phase of S.C. State's transportation complex is complete, part of it would serve as a maintenance garage for the authority's vehicles. The financial arrangements between the authority and the university, and many other details, haven't yet been worked out yet, she said.

But university officials have refused to explain why part of the new complex will serve as a maintenance facility for the Santee Wateree, and the authority's connection to the university. Instead, they sent a memo cutting off further communication about the transportation center, stating they would only discuss each phase of the project after that particular phase was complete.

Cooper said he was charged by the Board of Trustees when he was hired with moving the building project forward. That's what he's trying to do, and he has made a lot of progress, he said. The building project probably is now where it should have been years ago, he said.

He purchased a new water line to resolve water pressure problems that had raised fire-safety concerns with the state engineer's office, Cooper said. He also completed the bidding process for the project and hired a construction manager.

However, the university suffered another setback in April when the architect the school hired in 2003 to design the complex died suddenly. The university had paid the architect, a sole proprietor, $2.5 million. His work is legally tied up in his estate, but the matter should be resolved in a few weeks, Cooper said. The university can begin construction soon after that, he said. "We're closer than we've ever been."

Cooper said he's putting the past behind him and trudging forward. "We can't change history," he said. "Our intent is to continue the research center."