Toll roads: Highway robbery or path to progress?

Page 2 of 2 Deadly delays Ailing roads can cause more than a headache. Left unchecked, they can be deadly. The nation was reminded of that fact on Aug. 1 when a bridge on Interstate 35W collapsed in Minneapolis, killing 13 people and injuring 145 others as it plummeted 60 feet into the Mississippi River. “Obviously with the bridge collapse in Minnesota, we saw the need for transportation funding. We can’t wait another year,” said Darrell Scott, government relations director for the S.C. Chamber of Commerce, pleading with lawmakers during a recent forum to reach an accord on road funding.  In South Carolina, I-95 is the leading route for fatalities, claiming 128 lives between 2000 and 2005. More than 7,100 people crashed on that interstate between 2000 and 2004.  You would be hard–pressed to find a politician in the Palmetto State who does not think a road construction funding solution is needed. But the major roadblock, as with all things political, will be arriving at a compromise.  In his recent State of the State address, Gov. Mark Sanford talked about the need to thoroughly examine the way the state builds roads, including the possibility of leveraging private capital. A complete infrastructure proposal is forthcoming, and the governor is not opposed to considering tolling in the funding mix, but he would need more specific details, said his spokesman, Joel Sawyer.   A taxing debate Both Harrell and Senate President Pro Tem Glenn McConnell, R-Charleston, have introduced legislation to dedicate the 5% sales tax on new vehicle purchases to road improvements. “It’s a good start,” Foster said. “This makes road funding a priority.” But with that tax capped at $300 a pop no matter the price of the car, less than $100 million a year in state revenue is generated from vehicle sales. For comparison, the southern extension of the Carolina Bays Parkway and the widening of S.C. Highway 707 in Horry County cost the state $235 million combined. In Florence County, the price tag on six recent highway improvements was $250 million. In Charleston County, the extension of the Mark Clark Expressway is a $420 million state project.   Fortunately for these roads, the funding has been guaranteed by the S.C. Transportation Infrastructure Bank, created by the General Assembly in 1997 as a financing mechanism for infrastructure improvements. But without a legislative appropriation since 2006, that rig isn’t pumping any more pavement either. “We always have more requests than funding,” said Don Leonard, bank chairman. “We are fully invested. We aren’t in a position to approve any new funding.” Some lawmakers support increasing the gas tax, though likely not enough to make it happen. “The more you drive, the more you pay. It’s the fairest tax there is,” said Sen. John Land, D-Manning. “I think we’ve put it off long enough.” Also on the table is the option of replacing the flat 16–cent tax with a percentage of the pump price. Supporters see it as a means to keep up with inflation, and hope to bill it as a tax swap as opposed to an increase. Still, anything that raises the price of gas will be a hard sell in the Statehouse.     “With the cost of gasoline, politically, I just don’t think we can do it,” said Sen. Harvey Peeler, R-Gaffney. Even though it would cost his trucking association members at the pump, Todd also would like to see an increase in the gas tax. It’s the only way to generate enough revenue to make a dent in the road improvements the state needs to make, he said. Even though truckers will endorse limited tolling, lawmakers need to get a “backbone” and come up with a real solution, Todd said, or the state, along with the nation, will continue to slip behind. Tolling has a history of coming up short. “Our transportation system once led the world, and they were in awe,” he said. “(Other countries) started seizing our ideas and investing money where they needed to, and now we’re running behind.”   Molly Parker is a staff writer for SC Biz magazine. E-mail her directly at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it . Reporter Scott Miller contributed to this report. << Start < Prev 1 2 Next > End >>