Gas Tax Watch

State officials plan to fix about 2,300 miles of roads by the end of 2021.

That’s a small part of the major road work the agency says needs to be done.

Of the 10 counties with the most miles to be finished no later than 2021, Lexington County leads the pack with 122.49 miles to repair.

The department wants to bring about 16,800 miles of state roads up to a good rating under its 10-year plan, which is based on revenues from the gas-tax-hike law that took effect 2 years ago.

These 16,800 miles are half of about 33,600 miles the agency says have to be resurfaced or rebuilt.

In passing the gas-tax-hike law, which raised the state gas tax 12 cents a gallon over 6 years and increased other vehicle taxes and fees, lawmakers promised that the money would be used to fix the state’s crumbling roads and bridges.

DOT has said 80% of the state’s 42,000 miles of roads needs resurfacing or rebuilding and 465 out of 750 bridges need replacing.

But in the first two years of the gas-tax-hike law, the state collected enough revenues to cover 75% of the $1 billion in road and bridge projects identified by DOT.

Yet DOT completed just 8% of the estimated cost.

DOT might not hit its 10-year goals based on completion for 1,424 projects over 2,312.5 miles.

DOT plans to spend more than a third of gas-tax-hike revenues on widening or repaving interstates.

In addition, DOT has scheduled to complete about 237 miles of “rural road safety” projects statewide by Oct. 31, 2020, which, according to its website, include such things as widening shoulders and adding guardrails.

The work to be finished by the end of 2021 doesn’t necessarily correspond to the population of a county.

Florence County, home to powerful Republican Sen. Hugh Leatherman, has the 13th-largest population in the state but ranks 2nd in road miles to be repaired.

Brundrett is the news editor of The Nerve. Contact him at 803-254-4411 or rick@the-nerve.org .