I've known this for quite awhile, but finally an editorial piece that recognises the problem with keeping the motor fuels tax artificially low in my new home state. The roads are rubbish in the Upstate and I'm getting very tired of rumbling along all the broken roads and picking up nails in my tires.
Quote:
A recent analysis of a series of national highway safety reports has ranked South Carolina’s highways the most dangerous in the nation. It’s another in a long series of reports and studies that clearly illustrate the need for this state to improve its infrastructure and fix the way that system is maintained, funded and managed.
The analysis by the website carsinsurancecomparison.com ranked states in seven categories. South Carolina’s highest ranking was 33rd for the number of highway bridges rated obsolete or deficient; it’s worst ranking was 46th for its fatality rate according to study by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.
South Carolina was the only state to rank in the bottom half in each of the seven rankings, and it was ranked well below the next-worst state, Florida.
The condition of South Carolina’s infrastructure is evident in a statement earlier this year by the state’s DOT secretary, Robert St. Onge, who was quoted in The Greenville News as saying, “In a nutshell, what my job is right now given the resources, is to manage the decline of the state highway system.”
[SC's] gasoline tax continues to be among the lowest in the nation and has not been increased in more than two decades despite the state having the fourth-largest network of state-maintained roads in the nation.
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http://www.greenvilleonline.com/article/20120911/OPINION/309110006/Roads-shouldn-t-worst-U-S-?odyssey=nav|head
Everywhere I've lived, I've done my small part to make small improvements- I've chatted with DOT folks in NC, VA, and SC and gotten things done. Had a long talk with the local SCDOT engineer about the signals at a catastrophic interchange, and both of us agreed that the whole thing needed redesign. Surprise, surprise: "We know this too, we've long wanted a new interchange at the interstate. But we just don't the funding or resources to do anything."
That's why I often buy my fuel across the border, in NC. I don't mind paying more- at least my money's going somewhere where it's making a difference. Not thrown into a bankrupt fund that ain't going anywhere.
Given the volume of cars today, $0,04/litre or $0,16/US gallon just doesn't cut it especially when it hasn't been adjusted for 20 years. Roads don't pay for themselves folks.......cheap petrol is nice but long-term it costs everyone.