COLUMBIA -- The state Department of Transportation has taken the first step toward what would be a first for South Carolina -- charging tolls along Interstate 95, a DOT official said Thursday.

DOT officials filed an "expression of interest" form with the Federal Highway Administration seeking authority to charge tolls along I-95 to pay for reconstruction and repairs along the 200-mile route, said Susan Johnson, director of engineering outreach for DOT.

"It is in critical need," DOT officials said. "Currently, Interstate 95 does not meet the needs of the motoring public."

The filing is the first step in a process that requires federal approval and action by the state Legislature, she said. State law prohibits tolls on existing interstates.

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There is no current estimate of how much work on the interstate would cost and officials have not yet calculated possible tolls, Johnson said.

"We're not making a decision to toll or not to toll," said Tee Hooper, chairman of the DOT board. "DOT is only positioning itself in the event the Legislature made that decision."

But some are already opposed to the idea.

Rick Todd, president of the South Carolina Trucking Association, said tolls on an existing interstate would "start a border war" and create an unnecessary expense for truckers and business.

"We just think it's a bad precedent to toll our interstate highways," he said.

While tolls on I-85 or I-26 would likely draw more opposition because commuters use those routes, Todd said, once tolls start, the state may not stop with one interstate.

"It certainly breaks the ice," he said.

The agency hopes to "fast-track" the project and have toll plazas operational within two to three years, DOT officials wrote in their federal application.

The Department of Transportation tends more than 40,000 miles of roads and highways, many of which have been rated as some of the most dangerous in the nation. Yet budget shortfalls have interrupted paving of secondary roads in recent years and piled up construction and maintenance backlogs totaling more than $1 billion.

Officials have told board members in recent weeks the agency is experiencing some cash-flow problems that could grow worse later this year, the result of fewer federal dollars than expected, flat fuel tax revenues and price hikes in petroleum products used to build roads.

South Carolina now has tolls on two highways, the 7.5-mile-long Cross Island Parkway near Hilton Head and the 16-mile-long Southern Connector near Greenville. Tolls also are planned if I-73 is built to the Grand Strand.

I-95 was opened in 1963 and completed in 1977, documents submitted by DOT said. "General maintenance has sustained the facility over the past 43 years," agency officials wrote.

Congestion and safety are the major reasons for looking at tolls, agency officials wrote. I-95 has only four lanes of traffic through almost all of South Carolina, while Georgia has widened I-95 to six lanes along most of the route there.

"Fatality and crash rates along Interstate 95 are the deadliest of South Carolina interstates," officials wrote.

According to the documents, 128 people have died along I-95 in the past five years. From 2000 to 2004, according to the agency, there have been 7,177 accidents along the interstate.

Also included in the route are 162 bridges, 17 of which are substandard, officials said.

"Existing funding constraints have severely limited maintenance and construction projects across the state," officials wrote. "I-95 cannot be adequately maintained or improved without an alternative revenue source, like the collection of tolls."

Of the 20 states through which I-95 travels, seven -- Maine, New Hampshire, New York, New Jersey, Delaware and Maryland -- charge tolls on portions of the interstate, Johnson said.

Sen. Greg Ryberg, an Aiken Republican who chairs the Senate Transportation Committee and is running for state treasurer, said he would oppose tolls on I-95 if he's in the Legislature when the idea comes up.

"If I'm here, I'll fight tolling I-95 as long as I'm standing," he said. "It's counter to the movement of people across our country. You toll it. They toll it. I don't want to be first."

Ryberg said the state had almost $1 billion of new revenue this year, yet lawmakers dedicated none of it to catching up on road repairs.

Johnson said a federal highway committee will study the state's submission. If it is approved, she said, the state can make a formal application and talk to legislators.