G. Murrell Smith,Davey Hiott,Shane Massey,
It's past time to fix our roads. You and I bump around on crumbling asphalt every day, while they shrug their shoulders in Columbia.
We need to get some fire under our feet in South Carolina government. Instead of new taxes or tolls, let's reform the system and reprioritize current spending!
Rep. Josiah Magnuson has put forward a plan and we urge the legislature to implement it.
1. Structural Reform and Accountability - Make SCDOT accountable to the people. This could be either indirectly by making SCDOT a Cabinet position or placing the Lt. Governor in the role of Secretary of Transportation, or directly by electing each Transportation Commissioner by his/her Congressional District at large.
2. Increase Funding Priority for Roads - We are still spending millions on the Arts Commission, Sports Marketing Grants, tourism advertising, and state-sponsored reckless commercial development, not to mention the recent $1.3 billion for Scout/VW to build electric cars. This is money that should be spent on road and bridge construction, and to train workers for jobs in infrastructure.
3. Cut Overregulation - SCDOT has a crazy amount of regulations to comply with. We need to work with DOGE SC to identify and cut regulations that are burdensome, and pass the REINS Act.
4. Devolve Roads from State to Local - Most states handle the vast majority of roads at the county or city level, but in South Carolina we have a huge network of state roads. County road crews typically do faster and better quality work than the Columbia SCDOT. The legislature needs to send more roads back to the local level, along with the funding to handle them.
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