What's your view? Click here to add your comment to this story.

COLUMBIA -- State road construction could shrink from $800 million to $250 million annually over the next two years because of funding problems, the state's transportation director told Gov. Mark Sanford on Monday during Sanford's first day of agency budget hearings.

Elizabeth Mabry, executive director of the state Department of Transportation, said a decrease in fuel use combined with rising construction costs will mean a dramatic decrease in road building unless the agency gets more money.

She said the agency also wants to shed some of the state's 42,000 miles of state-maintained roadways that "don't serve transportation purposes." She didn't elaborate on which roads might be cut from the state system.

Sanford, whose office has repeatedly said the agency should be restructured before it receives any added funding, raised the issue again Monday. He said the governor appoints the transportation agency's top executive or its board in 47 other states.

Advertisement

He also told Mabry that the agency and its board should oppose the proposed $150 million bridge and road project over Lake Marion that is backed by U.S. Rep. James Clyburn. Clyburn has said the project will act as an economic stimulus to the area. Sanford has said the money could be used more effectively on road and bridge projects elsewhere in the area.

Mabry described the project as one of "congressional high priority." Sanford disagreed, saying it's "one person saying this is what I want."

Sanford also asked Mabry about the possibility of privatizing maintenance services. She said contractors aren't interested because they can't predict the amount of work that will be done.

In June, Mabry declared a state "transportation funding crisis" and asked lawmakers to increase the agency's annual funding by $1 billion over the next decade.

On Monday, she repeated her warnings that without added funds the agency's road building program would shrink, potentially cutting thousands of jobs among private contractors.

She said the state's neighbors receive far more in funding than South Carolina, which averages about $500 million in state fuel fees. The state's gas tax hasn't been raised since 1987.

Sanford's office also has criticized some of the agency's past spending, and Mabry was asked Monday about the purchase of four Chevrolet Tahoe sports utility vehicles for agency executives and a beach conference attended by hundreds of DOT employees.

Mabry said the vehicles were all-wheel drive vehicles bought on state contract for $28,000 each and used by engineers who have to drive in all weather. She said the beach conference was used to change the mindset about bicycles.