COLUMBIA, S.C. — On Friday, the South Carolina Department of Transportation (SCDOT) said it added nearly $780 million more toward improvement projects on roads and bridges.
“Roads are bad,” Albert Brown said.
In three words, he summed up what many drivers say about South Carolina roads.
“By my road, there’s a big dip and it messes up the cars,” Mollie Emory said.
“You hit one, you just you know you just worry that it’s going to break something or knock a tire out,” Randy Watts said.
SCDOT said it's working to change that with its 10-year pavement improvement plan. The department just added nearly $780 million. Some of the funding came from the gas tax trust fund that increased gas prices by 12 cents back in 2017.
According to the SCDOT website: “The selection of projects for the Proposed 2024 Pavement Improvement Program followed a ranking process that relies on objective and measurable criteria.”
The department’s website has a list of roads expected to be completed by this July.
“Well that’s good news if they do that. That’s something that needs to be worked on,” Watts said.
“As long as they fix the main roads, that’s fine with me,” Emory said.
“Hurry up and fix Hardscrabble,” Kiante Smith said.
The department said that, as of January 2024, more than 7,747 total miles had been repaved in South Carolina as part of the pavement improvement program.