South Carolina Has $9.4 Billion in Transportation Needs
ser fee as options to foot the bill.
"Over the next few months we are going to need to unite as a commission behind a plan," said new Transportation Commission Chairman Morgan Martin.
A Transportation Department report said the state's needs include $20 million a year for interstate maintenance and $60 million a year for road resurfacing during the next decade. The
How the state will pay to widen highways, replace bridges and maintain the interstate system is the debate. While South Carolina has a surplus in its general fund, lawmakers have said that money likely will go to education.
tate Senate President Pro Tem John Drummond, a democrat, said he wants to look at tolls and a gas tax as a way to pay for road improvements.
outh Carolina could generate $2.8 billion over 10 years by putting $2 tolls at the state line on Interstates 85, 95, 20 and 26, Transportation officials said.
ut federal law prohibits tolls on interstates unless they were built without federal funds or before 1956 when the highway system was created, said Federal Highway Administration spokesman Jim Pinkelman.
olls can be used temporarily to pay to replace bridges and tunnels on interstates, according to the law. South Carolina could do that or apply to be one of three states in a new program that
ill temporarily allow tolls, Transportation Department Chief of Staff Robert Probst said. The state must apply by March.
