From York County to Columbia — roads an issue

If there’s an issue state legislators need to stay on top of, S.C. Rep. Ralph Norman, Dist. 48, said Monday night, it’s the one everyone else is on top of already - roads.

“I expect it to be a real contentious year,” he said at a legislative update meeting that drew about 20 residents in Lake Wylie. “I had to pick one issue that will be front and center, it will be roads.”

Raising the state gasoline tax will come up. Norman said one-cent increase would net about $30 million. He expects pushback from the state Senate on letting the governor name a committee to look into funding options. He expects pushback from the governor on any increase proposal without a corresponding tax cut.

Norman doesn’t expect any gas tax increase that would put South Carolina on par with neighboring states.

“Anything we do we’re going to be under North Carolina, and we’ll be under Georgia,” Norman said.

The numbers

The state owns 54 percent of the public roadways in South Carolina. Municipalities own another 44 percent, with the last 2 percent under federal ownership. The state owns more than 41,000 miles of road.

As of 2014, the South Carolina Department of Transportation listed more than half of state-owned primary roads in “poor” condition. That percentage increased steadily since 2008, and by 2024, less than 10 percent of roads are expected in “good” condition.

More than 50 percent of state secondary roads are in “poor” condition now, with further deterioration projected.

Of more than 8,400 state-owned bridges, more than 9 percent are “structurally deficient” with another 9 percent “functionally obsolete,” as of Jan. 1.

SCDOT has a $1.63 billion budget for 2015-16. More than half of that money goes to maintenance and system preservation, with almost 30 percent going to capacity and operational improvements.

Those figures leave out costs from the historic flooding last year at an estimated $137 million. The estimated state share is $49 million.

County progress

York County was the first to ask its voters to approve a sales tax to fund road projects through Pennies for Progress in 1997. The fourth Pennies campaign is underway. So far, Pennies has spent $354 million on countywide projects.

“If it hadn’t been for Pennies for Progress, we wouldn’t get any money,” Norman said.

About a dozen more counties added a Pennies-style program for road funding. Perry Johnston, Lake Wylie business owner and former York County Council member, wonders why a county project to fund improvements often on state roads doesn’t draw more state support.

“Should the state not be willing to have some type of matching funds?” he said. “It just makes sense.”

However, Norman said there is a downside to the Pennies program. A perception in Columbia is York County is affluent, he said, and can support its own needs better than other parts of the state where growth is stalled or in decline.

“A lot of these counties can’t give a house away,” Norman said. “That’s the argument we get.”

Connection problems

Don Long of Lake Wylie said he sees more than road maintenance as a problem in York County. The problem is lack of connectivity over the lake or Catawba River. Long said at least two more crossings are needed.

“I don’t see anybody giving any significant thought to what we’re going to do about it,” he said.

Norman said the issue with bridges is cost. A bridge could cost at least $150 million, he said. Norman and others opposed a bridge from Rock Hill to Fort Mill when it came up with the Rock Hill-Fort Mill Area Transportation Study. The concern was the bridge would tie up decades worth of funding.

As a land developer, Norman said, bridges are difficult because of the price tag. Unlike building roads elsewhere, it’s harder to justify spending so much over water because it can't be developed around it the same way as other roads.

“It’s dollars,” Norman said of the difficulty building bridges. “It’s huge money.”

In its State of SCDOT presentation to the Senate Transportation Committee in January, the state department graded its day-to-day maintenance as a D. It noted the state is “struggling to maintain a poor highway system,” which is another concern for building new roadways.

“I’m not for building new roads until we can maintain them, and we have a maintenance problem,” Norman said.

York County leaders are looking at adding a maintenance component to the latest Pennies campaign, the first of its kind. On the state end, there is no shortage of items needing attention and funding, Norman said. But he wants the focus to include transportation.

“I’m hoping it’s on roads, it’s on infrastructure, it’s on core services we need to provide,” Norman said.

This story was originally published February 23, 2016 at 2:24 PM with the headline "From York County to Columbia — roads an issue."