A new federal report showing a growing number of deficient bridges in South Carolina is another signal that the state legislature must quit ignoring its highway funding problem.

A major contributing factor in the bridge deterioration is that they are carrying higher traffic volume than they were designed to handle.

But while use of state roads and bridges climbs steadily, the funding mechanism for the Department of Transportation remains stagnant. And the legislature ignores the problem.

The legislature certainly does not suffer from a lack of evidence. The state's highways are among America's most deadly, often due to outdated designs that DOT wants to fix but cannot due to lack of funds. The state is further challenged by having one of the nation's largest state-maintained road systems.

Now the Federal Highway Administration reports that the number of deficient bridges in South Carolina has risen nearly 10 percent to 2,079 in the last decade.

Twenty-one of those deficient bridges are in Beaufort County, including one of the links to Hilton Head Island.

Beaufort County legislators have tried unsuccessfully to convince their colleagues that a road funding formula that hasn't changed since 1987 needs to be updated. The state taxes a flat rate on each gallon of gasoline. At the very least, it should be a percentage of the amount paid per gallon, which would help keep up with inflation.

Meanwhile, the state funnels some of the gasoline tax to other purposes. That's foolish.

DOT officials can lay out a litany of data and comparisons that show how far behind South Carolina is getting in addressing road needs. It knows, for example, that it would take $850 million over five years to fix all the state's deficient bridges. This year, the state has $70 million available to fix bridges. Only the very worst bridges will be replaced.

The public should not fear traveling on bridges. All of them are carefully monitored by the state and reinforced as necessary.

But the public should question a legislature that pretends its road problems do not exist, or will somehow disappear. Rather than shrinking, the problem is only getting worse. It requires legislative action.