State hungry for road money

Everything from mowing scraggly roadside grass on Interstate 95 that greets South Carolina newcomers to plans for a new commuter train connecting Charleston and Summerville could get a boost if President Barack Obama's proposed $50 billion for transportation projects is approved, officials said.

Road maintenance money is the top need of the state Department of Transportation, which oversees 8,250 bridges and 41,700 miles of highways. The state ranks 49th in the tax charged to motorists per gallon of gas, which is the primary source of DOT funds, said Highway Commissioner Harrison Rearden of Columbia.

"Put South Carolina at the top of the list. We are in dire need of funds for current road and bridge maintenance," Rearden said. He represents the 6th Congressional District on the Highway Commission, including parts of Berkeley, Charleston and Dorchester counties.

Rearden said the Georgia side of I-95 looks well-kept but in South Carolina the roadside grass isn't cut enough. "Our roads look so bad because we haven't been cutting the grass. Aesthetically, it's ugly," he said.

The commuter train concept, Septima Clark Crosstown Expressway

improvements and new bike and pedestrian lanes could be a step closer to becoming a reality if Congress approves Obama's proposal, said Charleston Mayor Joe Riley.

How much South Carolina might reap from Obama's proposal was unclear. The effort is intended to build on the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which sent more than $400 million to South Carolina for road work. Obama announced the plan on Monday.

"I believe we need to invest in infrastructure," Riley said. "It will create jobs which we need and it will be building assets of value to our community."

State Highway Commissioner Ken Willingham of Mount Pleasant said South Carolina needs more money for roads, but he was concerned about how Obama's proposal would affect the national budget deficit. He expected Obama's announcement to be a topic of discussion at next week's Highway Commission meeting.

"Our nation is so deeply in debt that (the proposal) creates real concerns for me," said Willingham, who is the Highway Commission's at-large member.

Howard Bohne of North Charleston worried that the country would sink deeper into debt because of an election-year proposal to upgrade roads, rail and runways as Democrats fret about the possibility of losing their advantage in Congress.

"Somebody is going to pay for this eventually. You just can't be providing everybody everything," Bohne said.

Over the next six years, Obama's plan would include rebuilding 150,000 miles of roads, constructing and maintaining 4,000 miles of rail and rehabilitating or reconstructing 150 miles of airport runway.

Because the country's unemployment is near 10 percent, Bohne wondered how the tax revenue to pay for major road projects would be generated with so many people jobless. "It really irritates the heck out of me when I hear about this stuff," he said.

Obama described the $50 billion proposal as a new up-front investment in the nation's infrastructure.

Willard Fitch of North Charleston said he was concerned that money earmarked for transportation improvements gets spent in other ways than originally intended. "Fix the doggone roads," he said.

Rearden said the new federal dollars, if approved, could inject life into the three-decade-old dream of an Interstate 73 project that would link Michigan and points in between with South Carolina's Grand Strand. It will cost $2.4 billion in South Carolina alone to build I-73.

The DOT commission has had informal discussions about which road projects would be at the top of the list if additional federal funds became available, but nothing has been finalized, officials said.

A panel has suggested increasing the South Carolina excise tax on gasoline by 5.5 cents per gallon to raise $150 million more annually for the DOT.

"This increase would provide needed revenue for roads while keeping the tax rate competitive with Georgia and North Carolina," according to a draft report issued by the Fuel Tax Subcommittee of the South Carolina Taxation Realignment Commission. Legislators will consider the commission recommendations.

Reach Prentiss Findlay at 937-5711 or pfindlay@postandcourier.com.