WHY THE STATISTIC AT THE HEART OF SOUTH CAROLINA’S TRANSPORTATION DEBATE IS WRONG …
|| By FITSNEWS || “South Carolina has the nation’s fourth-largest network of state-maintained roads …”
That statement (or variation iterations of it) has been made countless times by dozens of media outlets – including by this website. It’s also been made countless times by politicians, lobbyists, bureaucrats and other advocates in pursuit of all sorts of ends (including contradictory ends). Supporters and opponents of gas tax hikes use the statistic, as do supporters and opponents of reforming the state’s chronically mismanaged Department of Transportation (SCDOT). Same with those who believe local governments should bear more responsibility for their own infrastructure.
The only question, though: Is the statistic true? Does South Carolina really have the “fourth-largest network of state-maintained roads?”
Yes … and no. But mostly “no,” it appears.
South Carolina’s network of state-maintained roads indeed totals 41,414 miles – which ranks fourth nationally in length. Of that total, 18,884 miles (or 45.5 percent) are secondary roads (which we happen to believe ought to be maintained by local governments).
But regardless of what you think about that question – or the gas tax question or the question of how to reform SCDOT – we’ve got to have accurate numbers in order to make the most educated decision, right?
Right …
However, according to former SCDOT commissioner Sarah Nuckles – one of the few principled, pro-taxpayer advocates ever to serve on the state’s notoriously corrupt highway commission – the roads statistic that everybody in South Carolina loves to cite isn’t accurate.
In a column published this week on our website, Nuckles points out South Carolina’s claim to having the “fourth-largest” roads network in the nation is based on so-called “centerline miles.”
“Centerline miles” is a measurement which refers to the total distance of a specific roadway. A more accurate metric, many maintain, is “lane miles” – which refers to a road’s distance and its lane count. “Lane miles” take into account important stuff like, oh, how much asphalt or concrete is required to do a job.
Basically, this …
… is different than this …
So yeah … not all miles are created equal.
According to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), South Carolina has 140,106 “lane miles” – including urban/rural local roads. And according to that metric, the Palmetto State not fourth nationally in terms of its road network, but thirty-third.
Big difference, right? Indeed. And of those “lane miles,” a whopping 86,119 miles of them (61.5 percent of the total) are classified as “local.”
Hmmm …
Nuckles is to be commended for bringing this critical information to the fore as the S.C. General Assembly approaches a critical crossroads in the debate over whether to raise gas taxes on motorists.
15 comments
Hello SC. Bend over! Leatherman is about to have his way with you!
As long as he doesn’t crap himself first.
He isn’t GrandTango.
If you’re in Ninety-six, you have no reason to go to Epworth or Coronaca.
“If you’re in Ninety-six, you have no reason to go to Epworth or Coronaca. ”
Not when TB was floating around their schools.
:)
This makes more sense. How could a small state like SC have so many roads to be in the league with some of the western states? 33rd. is about where we should be realistically. numbers don’t lie but liars use numbers to benefit their cause. All of which still doesn’t fix the potholes.
On that we agree
That being said,according to the article above, 61% of the roads are “local”.
And you know what that means – it falls directly into the proposal by the legislature that counties absorb/maintain a larger share or the state supported roads like the state funded roads in the article pictured above
I’m already paying WAY MORE of my share for the accursed Spartanburg County mandated “road fee” of $25/vehicle. Ain’t no way I’m in favor of Spartanburg County taking on more road maintainence. The Spartanburg County roads aren’t anything to brag about as it is.
My county has $35.00 Roads and Bridges maint. The detour signs almost rot down before the bridges get fixed. They love those low weight signs. It gives them a few more years to fix the road. When I was in Vietnam we rebuilt one bridge on QL 1 four times. IT AIN’T THAT HARD.
Agreed
The individual county road “fee” is bullshit
it’s all “shell game/rob Peter to pay Paul” BS anyway
Spartanburg County has also taken more roads from the state over the years. At present 38% of the county’s roads are under state control, which is far lower than in most rural counties and many of those roads taken over should still be state because they are classified as collector. It can plainly be said that the county is NOT doing a better job than the state maintaining those roads. If the state is going to dump nearly 20,000 miles of roads on the counties and cities then they need to be raising the standards of those county roads. Nowhere have I heard any proposal like that, because they look to Georgia as if they are the bastion of highway perfection. Georgia’s road system sucks. Yeah their roads are basically smooth, but in terms of traffic engineering the counties do a pathetic job in most of the 159 little fiefdoms. There are not enough routes in Georgia, and the county roads are dangerous to drive at night due to inconsistent maintenance standards. Georgia’s state highway system is a mere 18,000 miles or 14% of the whole road system: the same ratio as SC’s primary state system alone. If SCDOT and the legislature was being fair, they’d offer a trade-off at least by taking over traffic control on most county roads, permitting cities and towns to contract road maintenance with the state and they would come up with more fair and reasonable ways to fund roads. A local option 1 cent sales tax and local option gas tax make a lot more sense than a $25 road fee. That $25 road fee should be going to pay for secondary state roads, not podunk county roads with their trashy standards.
Bureaucrats make up the lies and politicians repeat them over and over. Then, the special interest insiders collect and spend the spoils wile distributing some back to the pols and bureaucrats that made it happen.
??? $73.. per-hr @mi23//
..
???http://WorldStarHipHopDesign.org/Pro/star…
Local Street:
A street intended solely for access to adjacent properties. How many of these are actually state secondary roads in South Carolina? Fact: State roads are falling apart. Talk doesn’t fix the roads. Action does. $400 million dollars rebuilds about 22 miles of state secondary roads in each of the 46 counties in this state. There are over 1,000 miles of state roads in Spartanburg County alone. This is one time money not a steady revenue stream. Do you trust the Legislature to actually give this money to fix the state roads in your county every year? Just like the Local Government Fund law that hasn’t been followed for the last several years by the legislature that has caused local governments to cut services it’s citizens want and demand. What is the answer to fix the roads folks? Every year we wait, the worse our roads get.
Let’s look at state agency-owned public roads, by lane miles: http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/policyinformation/statistics/2013/hm81.cfm
Guess who is #4 behind TX, NC, and VA? Little ‘ol SC with 90k lane miles.
Statistics are a funny thing…
I love Sarah Nuckles!!! She speaks the truth!!!