S.C. DOT reports massive storm cleanup, $7B I‑526 estimate and growing funding gap

South Carolina Department of Transportation leaders told the Senate Transportation Committee that the agency has led the state’s largest debris cleanup mission in decades, has opened or started hundreds of bridge and interstate projects and is pressing the General Assembly for new funding approaches to keep its 10‑year plan on track.

The SCDOT presentation, delivered to the committee by the department’s secretary, outlined the recent storm response, current project pipeline and longer-term financial challenges tied to inflation, changing vehicle fleets and rapid population growth.

The secretary said SCDOT and contractors have collected more than 5,000,000 cubic yards of debris since October — “enough debris to fill up the Empire State Building 3 and a half times” — and that storm damages so far include roughly $23 million from Tropical Storm Debbie, $76 million from Hurricane Helene and $21 million from November floods. He said about 85% of Helene-related repairs are complete and the department expects to finish all repairs by year-end while awaiting federal reimbursements through the Federal Highway Administration and FEMA.

The presentation stressed that South Carolina’s highway investment program has expanded since the General Assembly enacted the 2017 roads law known as Act 40, which unleashed billions for road work. The secretary said work under that program has grown from about $2.7 billion of work in 2017 to more than $6.5 billion ongoing today and that the state will soon top $7 billion in active projects statewide, in all 46 counties. He told lawmakers SCDOT has 111 miles of interstate-capacity work either complete or underway and noted major projects including widening I‑26 and I‑95 and the planned reconstruction of I‑526 in Berkeley and Charleston counties, which he described as a roughly $7,000,000,000 estimate — “the same size as our current construction program for the entire state.”

Bridge needs were a central focus. The department said it typically has 60–70 bridges closed at any time and 600–700 bridges posted for reduced loads; current counts include 86 closed bridges and 683 load-posted structures. SCDOT said the state owns about 8,400 bridges, with roughly 2,400 more than 60 years old today and that the number of bridges older than 60 is expected to rise to about 3,900 in 10 years if investment levels do not change. The department said it has 370 bridge projects underway and is on track to meet a goal of 530 bridges by 2027, driven in part by additional legislature funding and a $67,000,000 commitment already obligated to bridge projects this fiscal year.

Pavement and safety progress were highlighted alongside those challenges. SCDOT said it maintains roughly 41,000 miles of state highways and that in the seven and a half years since Act 40 it has repaved about one-quarter of the system. The secretary cited completed rural-road safety projects as saving lives on corridors where finished work has led to a 20% reduction in fatal and serious-injury crashes.

The secretary urged lawmakers to consider revenue changes to shore up long-term funding. He said traditional gas-tax revenue has not kept pace with inflation and population growth: the increase in collections since 2017 occurred mainly because Act 40 raised the gas-tax rate, but that the original 16¢ tax intended for field maintenance has remained effectively flat in buying power. He described two structural pressures: increasing vehicle fuel efficiency and the rapid adoption of electric vehicles. “Electric vehicles aren’t coming. They’re here,” he said, and added that hybrid and electric vehicles today make up “about 3%” of the private vehicle fleet but are growing at double‑digit rates.

SCDOT noted South Carolina was an early adopter of an electric-vehicle registration fee included in Act 40; the department said current state EV fees amount to $120 every two years (about $60 per year) but pointed to neighboring states with higher registration rates and, in some cases, per-kilowatt-hour charges at certain public chargers. The department suggested lawmakers consider a per-kilowatt-hour charge of about 4.5 cents — a figure officials calculated would approximate the tax a long‑distance driver pays when buying gasoline — to capture passthrough charging traffic.

The secretary also previewed Momentum 2050, the department’s long-range plan the agency will begin taking public comment on next month. He listed four guiding principles for the plan: sustain gains from the 2017 roads bill (pavement, bridges, safety); prepare for freight and interstate demand; balance growth between urban and rural needs and pursue operational fixes (signal timing, intersection improvements, freight rail and transit options); and improve interagency coordination among ports, rail, DMV and other state entities.

Committee members asked follow-up questions on tariffs, staffing and financing. One senator asked whether pending steel tariffs could raise costs for interstate and bridge projects; the secretary said steel is the input he watches most closely, that many bridge and interstate projects use federal funds and that the department already follows Buy America restrictions. Senators from Richland and Charleston raised workforce and cost-of-living issues; the secretary said SCDOT recently increased entry-level salaries and reported field maintenance vacancy rates at about 88%, near the agency target of 90%, and that the department works with technical colleges on training and inspection programs.

On financing large, generational projects the secretary said the agency has historically been debt-free and paid off prior debt, but acknowledged that borrowing may be necessary for projects that exceed current annual program capacity. He urged predictable, steady investment to allow the industry to plan and deliver work rather than sudden spikes in contracts.

The presentation closed with an invitation for continued dialogue with the committee and the General Assembly as SCDOT rolls out Momentum 2050 and refines funding options.

(Quotes attributed to "Secretary of Transportation" and other participants come from the committee transcript.)