Lexington County lawmakers want to know why the state can’t repair crumbling roads and bridges.

The Department of Transportation is sitting on $722 million from increased gas taxes.

Yet less than 50% of road and bridge repairs have been made since lawmakers passed the gas tax increase almost 4 years ago.

Road officials say they can’t find contractors for the work since many are work ing in other states.

Sen. Dick Harpootlian told the Chronicle that the Lexington County legislative delegation is meeting with SCDOT this week.

“You should attend,” he said in an email.

Sen. Harpootlian was the only delegation member to respond to Chronicle questions about DOT’s failures.

The Chronicle has urged lawmakers to consider amending the gas tax law to divert some of the unused $722 million from DOT bank accounts. problems finding money for road and bridge repairs.

DOT continues to sit on a massive gas tax reserve.

As of Dec. 31, the cash balance of a special fund totaled about $722.4 million, which represented about 44% of all collected money, records show.

Investment earnings on the fund grew to more than $23 million.

Rick Brundrett of the SC Policy Council found that deposits over the 42 months of the tax increase was almost $1.65 billion.

That’s about $42 million more than the $1.61 billion in project “commitments” identified by DOT, according to the agency’s records.

Lawmakers could look at how that excess $42 million could be used by the state’s 46 counties.

Lawmakers raised state gasoline taxes 12 cents a gallon over 6 years and increased other vehicle taxes.

They promised the money would be used to fix the state’s deteriorating roads and bridges but restricted use to state roads only.

Despite dangerous conditions on many roads and bridges, DOT has used much of the tax money to widen interstate highways.