South Carolina's return on federal gas taxes will be greatly improved under the new highway bill, which offers more equity in the funding formula for the Sunbelt in general. Getting 92 cents back on every dollar sent to Washington may not be ideal, but it's better than the state has done in recent memory.

Since 1956, less than 82 percent of the road taxes collected in this state have been spent in South Carolina, according to figures compiled by the Heritage Foundation. That dismal rate of return represents a loss that can be calculated in the hundreds of millions.

State Department of Transportation director Elizabeth Mabry says the state "won big" in the process. In a letter on this page today, she estimates the total return at $2.9 billion or an increase of 28 percent over the previous highway bill. Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., agrees with her assessment.

"We got a better share for South Carolina than we ever have before," said Sen. DeMint, who served on the conference committee for the transportation bill. He acknowledged, however, that that "you had to hold your nose a little" over some of the appropriations in the bill.

Indeed, the level of pork projects has dominated news coverage on the transportation bill, which was signed last week by President Bush. The bill has by one estimate a total of 6,371 earmarked projects totaling some $24 billion.

According to figures compiled by the Cato Institute, the volume of pork represents a gigantic jump over the previous record of 1,850 earmarks in 1998, when $9 billion was tagged for local projects.

The bill also has been criticized as a showcase for the rewards of congressional seniority. For example, The Associated Press reported that Alaska, the nation's third least populous state, is fourth on the funding list with $941 million in earmarks, thanks to the influence of Transportation Committee Chairman Don Young, Alaska's sole representative.

The Heritage Foundation points out that Alaska already has a highway tax return ratio of nearly 600 percent, by far the highest in the nation. The new figure should make it soar even higher.

Earmarks aside, the bill is notable for revising the transportation funding formula that gave a needed adjustment for donor states. That will help the S.C. DOT, which has one of the lowest gas taxes in the nation, and a staggering backlog of projects.

Legislators determine the level of state funding for the DOT, primarily by their control over the state gas tax. They should recall that there are restrictions on the kind of projects that federal highway funds can be used for.

Maintenance of state secondary roads, for example, typically hasn't been eligible for federal support, and the condition of those roads argues for additional state funding. While welcome, the extra federal funding doesn't get the state, or the Legislature, off the hook on transportation needs.