Drivers call state of roads a 'crisis'

Jeff Burdine talks about secondary roads in South Carolina and a proposed extra fee. e-mail this story

Larger and faster cars have been crowding onto narrow, deteriorating roads designed decades ago. At least a third of the state's traffic deaths are attributed to road conditions or design.

Laysalle Ravenel, a 33-year-old engineer who lives in Charlotte and works in Greenville, said he sees the problem in his commute.

"All the secondary roads are too small for today's cars and need to be widened," he said.

The solution advanced by government is to tax vehicle owners $15 per axle, or $30 a year for cars, trucks, vans and SUVs.

The lack of maintenance affects you even if you don't travel secondary roads. In addition to loss of life, the problem has cost millions of dollars in damage, medical bills and increased insurance premiums for everyone, said Joe Davenport, a traffic safety advocate in Anderson.

"It's just a disaster in South Carolina as far as I'm concerned," he said.

Although secondary roads make up the majority of roadways in the state, their care has not been a priority among lawmakers, officials say, and the state has little money to devote annually to them.

The state Department of Transportation says its maintenance shortfall is $560 million a year and its shortfall for construction is $1.3 billion.

In an effort to fix the problem, the state Transportation Commission has proposed lawmakers enact a $15-per-axle fee on all vehicles estimated to generate $90 million to $100 million — enough to cover about two-thirds of the maintenance need.

"Everybody hates to pay more, but I think it would be worth it for the safety issues," said Lila Boynton, 48, a Greenville resident who teaches in Simpsonville.

Reaction by state officials to the fee is mixed. Tee Hooper of Greenville, who chairs the commission and did not vote on the fee, said he is not sure it's the best way to address the problem.

"There is plenty of need, but I'm not convinced the timing is right," he said. "I think we have to be sure that we spend what we have appropriately before we can ask for more and that the method of asking is appropriate."

Will Folks, a spokesman for Gov. Mark Sanford, said the governor is concerned about how the agency is spending its money. He pointed specifically to a $100 million bridge project known as the James E. Clyburn Connector and a recent pay raise granted the agency's executive director, Elizabeth Mabry, who makes $129,000 annually.

The Clyburn Connector is a 9.6-mile road, including a 2.8-mile bridge across the Santee River floodplain, running between Lone Star and Rimini.

"We've long maintained there is a significant, unmet infrastructure challenge in South Carolina," Folks said. "The question is do you address that by building a bridge to nowhere over one of the last pristine wetland areas of the state at the same time you're giving your agency's director a 10 percent pay raise? We happen to believe you don't."

Michael Covington, director of government affairs for the Transportation Department, said the state is now working on a schedule that paves secondary roads just once every 160 years.

He said the issue hasn't been noticed by lawmakers because transportation funds come from the state's gas tax and not from the state budget. "It's kind of out of sight and out of mind," he said.

The state spends $10,500 per mile on roads, the lowest rate in the nation, he said.

And the source of those funds is almost entirely the state's 16-cent-a-gallon gas tax, which is fifth-lowest in the nation.

While the public has watched millions of dollars in paving projects on interstates and other federally funded roads in recent years, they don't realize the backlog of paving that has piled up on secondary roads, Covington said.

Many of those were designed in the 1950s or earlier when roads were built for fewer cars and slower speeds.

"For one reason or another, people are driving faster than they did 50 years ago, when a lot of these roads were built," he said. "And there are lots more cars using these roads. So we need to be making systematic safety improvements."

That means wider lanes, fewer curves, wider shoulders and more guardrails, officials say.

Lance Cpl. Dan Marsceau of the State Highway Patrol said better roads would help but most accidents are caused by driver error.

"Obviously, if we could reduce hazards that drivers face it would be beneficial," he said. "But statistically, the driver is the one who makes the wrong choice."

Through last Tuesday, 894 people had died on South Carolina's roads and highways compared with 865 for the same period last year. A breakdown by secondary highway was not available late last week.

Davenport, who serves on the transportation committee of the Anderson Area Chamber of Commerce, said bad roads make a difference in safety. He said the area near Wren High is one where many students have died in accidents on narrow roads.

"I don't believe there's a day goes by on Highways 81 and 88 that doesn't have a wreck," he said. "There are dozens of unsafe roads here. And those that are dangerous are so overcrowded that it takes you forever to get through some of these places."

Covington said traffic safety near schools is another problem related to secondary road maintenance because new schools often are built in undeveloped areas along secondary roads that are narrow and incapable of handling the traffic to come.

He said federal studies show that widening lanes by just two feet reduces crashes by 12 percent.

Sen. John Land, a Manning Democrat who serves on the Senate Transportation Committee, said he supports an increase in the gas tax instead of the axle fee because the fee would treat heavy and light road users alike. But he said the problem needs to be addressed by lawmakers.

"Sometimes maintenance is something you can put off, but it costs you more to do it," Land said.

"So many of our secondary roads we're riding on look like pavement, but it's actually the foundation," he said. "We're way behind, and I'm fully convinced they need more funding." Staff writer Julie Howle contributed to this story.