Drivers Speak Out About Road Conditions

COLUMBIA, S.C. (WOLO) — Chances are you’ve seen them on your drive around town or even on the interstate… holes in the roadway. “We haven’t acted, as far as funding our roads, since 1987. We passed a three cents motor fuel gasoline tax in 1987,” says Bill Ross, Executive Director of the South Carolina Alliance to Fix Our Roads Ross says drivers are upset. “And for good reason. They are having the front end of their cars damaged. They’re having to spend money for unnecessary repairs because of the road conditions,” says Ross The group’s latest push for improvement is on social media. Comments made by South Carolinians or those passing through the state include: Bad, Embarrassing, “A slap in the face for honest, tax paying citizens,” “Rougher than a roller coaster ride.” The list goes on. According to the South Carolina Department of Transportation’s website, South Carolina is responsible for the 4th largest state-maintained highway system in the nation. We reached out to SCDOT, but were told the agency doesn’t make statements or express opinions about the quality of the state highway system. We were, however, pointed to the State of the SCDOT report. There we found graphs showing pavement conditions. For the interstate system, federal-aid eligible only 10% of roads are in poor condition. For primary roads, federal-aid eligible 43% are in poor condition. 46% of secondary roads that are federal-aid eligible are in poor condition. But, for those secondary roads that are not federal-aid eligible 50% of them are in poor condition. Ross says drivers are noticing. “I think they are ready for legislators to act,” says Ross.