Down the wrong road

Editorial by Burlington Times-News, July 27, 2016.

There’s a lesson in highway maintenance for North Carolinians nearby. If you’ve driven in South Carolina in the past few years, you’ve seen it — and felt it.

Our southern neighbor’s roads are crumbling, along with bridges and other transportation infrastructure. The state will spend $1.4 billion on repaving in the next decade and S.C. Transportation Secretary Christy Hall said last week that drivers probably won’t notice it. “The new funding will essentially keep the pavements in the same condition they’re in today,” she said.

But they have cheap gas there. Fireworks, too — or so we hear.

Yes, South Carolina is great at keeping its gasoline and related taxes among the nation’s lowest. That’s great for consumers, especially those visitors who head to that state’s popular beaches. But in the process, its highway funds dwindle. Ultimately, though, the bill comes due.

The old double-edged sword.

Here in what used to be called “the good roads state” of North Carolina, we don’t have much to brag about either. Many of our roads are crumbling too. And because of otherwise welcome cuts in the gas tax combined with the ever-higher average vehicle gas mileage, our highway funds have declined accordingly. With record revenues coming into the state treasury, we hope more is diverted to our roads. Let’s let South Carolina keep the bad-roads title.

Parts of this editorial were previously published in the Fayetteville Observer

http://www.thetimesnews.com/opinion/20160727/editorial-down-wrong-road