Prior to being widened to four lanes, the 17-mile stretch of S.C. 170 between Beaufort and McGarvey's Corner for years was one of the deadliest highways in South Carolina. Since the road has been widened to four lanes, a fatal accident hasn't been recorded on the road. These improvements were due in large part to voters agreeing to a one-cent sales tax to speed up the widening of the highway on a local timetable instead of the delayed state timetable created by an inadequate funding mechanism.
On Monday, Gov. Mark Sanford and other state officials were in the county to discuss the important of short-term and long-term improvements to the highway, including assigning a team of state troopers to assess safety on the highway.
On Friday the S.C. Highway Commission, at a special meeting on the just completed Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge in Charleston, will receive information to determine whether the traffic speed on the 22 miles of U.S. 17 between Gardens Corner and Jacksonboro should be lowered. That is certainly a start to safety improvements and a remedy that many elderly people who live in the vicinity of U.S. 17 advocated at meetings Monday.
But that is just a beginning. The saturation patrols also should be a reminder to motorists to use common sense and slow down. But slower local traffic won't matter much if tractor-trailer rigs and other speeders zoom through the area creating hazards -- even causing wrecks.
Short-term safety improvements also need to be implemented, including those mentioned Monday: rumble strips on the median to keep drivers alert, reflectors to outline lane boundaries and caution signals. Diverting truck traffic from the stretch of U.S. 17 through Walterboro to I-95 also should be considered.
But a suggestion from Dana Gasque, the mother of a college student killed in a wreck on the highway, is what will improve safety on this road as it did on S.C. 170: "Four-laning is what's going to fix the problem," she said Monday.
Gov. Sanford on Monday said, "The money will be found" for the improvements. Estimates are that widening the highway and bridges will cost about $200 million. About $7.75 million has been allocated for preliminary studies and planning, but the remainder is largely unfunded.
The governor didn't cite a source for the money. Rearranging priorities within the Department of Transportation would help at the state and federal level. Aside from that, area residents would entertain other state residents chipping in with a temporary one-cent sales tax to pay for the sorely needed highway widening.