CONWAY, SC (WBTW) – In July, the gas tax in South Carolina went up two cents per gallon, and state leaders say that money is already going to work to improve roads. After increasing 2-cents per year for six years, the total gas tax increase will be 12 cents.
“I actually hit a pothole that was so bad it popped my tire and dented my rim,” recalls Brittney Todd of her experience on a Myrtle Beach road. “Where the road was – should have been anyway – wasn’t, and it sounded like the road was coming out from underneath me. I could hear the air just hissing out the tire.”
A recent trip to North Carolina sparked Todd’s concern for road conditions in Horry County.
“I had traveled and went up to North Carolina a couple of months ago and was actually shocked at how much better their roads are than ours. I was like, ‘wow, we’re really behind,’” says Todd.
Experiences like Todd’s are what drove state lawmakers to approve a new gas tax earlier this year. It just so happens, that the road right in front of Todd’s workplace will be one of the first in Horry County slated to be repaired from that additional gas tax money.
The South Carolina Department of Transportation says resurfacing of Frontage Road East is now possible because of the tax. The same is true for Port Harrelson Road in the Bucksport area.
“That gas money could be going anywhere, but it’s nice to see that it’s going on our road,” expresses Timnasia Shelton, who drives Horry County roads daily. “I guess they care about us.”
While neither of those county roads is major, they are part of a larger 10-year plan that the Secretary of Transportation says is possible because of the increased tax.
The plan calls for:
- Resurfacing (Nearly half of the money is dedicated to this project)
- Improving safety on a 1,000 miles of rural roads by adding rumble strips, guard rails or wider shoulders
- Replacing approximately half the state’s 750 deficient bridges
- Beginning to widen 11 or 12 interstates
Not counting the resurfacing, there are 63 planned projects in our area:
- 8 in Darlington County
- 7 in Dillon County
- 8 in Florence County
- 17 in Georgetown County
- 20 in Horry County
- 3 in Marion County
- No major projects for Marlboro County
The resurfacing part of the plan is figured out separately each year, and the DOT says there’s already a list of roads across the state that will get resurfaced thanks to the first months of collecting the increased gas tax.
Out of 149 roads to be resurfaced, 27 are in the Grand Strand and Pee Dee.
You can track most of the projects included in the 10 year plan online. You can see what’s being worked on in each county, and even see when construction is expected. Many of the repaving projects aren’t included on the site, so you may see that work in your area, even if it’s not listed.
You can also visit this website for a county-by-county list of the first resurfacing projects that can move to construction because of the increase in gas tax revenue.
