In anticipation of the new Session starting in January, I’m pre-filing two similar bills that create a mechanism to transfer non-federal aid secondary roads from state to county control.
A few salient points:
SCDOT manages the 4th highest number of road miles as compared to other states. 21,000 miles of these roads are secondary and are not eligible for federal aid. These roads should be managed by the counties.
Before SCDOT can be reformed, its true scope and mission must be determined. The SCDOT should be concentrating on improving our overall state road system, not the two lane road in your neighborhood.
The bills are identical except for the funding method and a tax credit. One bill carves out funds from the existing gas tax. The other bill increases the gas tax while granting an income tax credit as an offset.
The DOT estimates that it will cost 170,000,000 per year to bring the condition of these roads from a rating of “poor” to “good.” This equals around 5 cents per gallon of gasoline.
The funds will flow through a newly created T-fund and are designated to be used only to improve current roads during the transfer process.
These bills have a sunset provision. Once the transfer is completed, the T-Fund is eliminated.