♪ > Welcome to a This Week In South Carolina Special Report.

I'm Gavin Jackson here in Lexington County, south of Columbia on Interstate 26.

Which is expanding to three lanes in both directions, on its way down to Charleston.

This is one of dozens of projects going on in our growing state that we discuss with SCDOT Secretary Justin Powell.

And what else is on the horizon as the agency hustles to keep up with our booming Palmetto State.

I opened our interview by asking the Transportation Secretary about the current state of infrastructure in South Carolina.

> So right now we have, you know, over the past 15 years, we have really significantly grown our construction program.

A lot of that was because of investments made by both the General Assembly and by Congress.

But, we've been able to grow our construction program from over a billion dollars to just under seven billion dollars.

And it's on projects like this one right here.

So this project was accelerated thanks to some one-time money given to us by the General Assembly, but is a critical, pinch point that we have both on 26 and 95, over 200 million dollar project that really is helping us, move both 26, widening along, but also moving the movement of freight along the 95 corridor as well.

But it, it's just emblematic of a series of projects we've got all going on in all 46 counties.

Gavin> And we'll drill down into the roads and the bridges and the interstates and the pavements that are going on right now.

But Secretary, I want to ask you, 2026 is a major election year.

Voters will choose a new governor and all the candidates, five Republicans, two Democrats have all mentioned infrastructure issues, in some way or form, negatively, positively.

But there's a lot to the back story there.

So have you been having conversations with these candidates about these issues and challenges and efforts to address them at this point?

What are you telling them and maybe other folks who are dragging infrastructure in South Carolina?

Justin> Well, you know, I mean, I think we've talked with, I've talked with almost all the candidates, about where we are as a state.

And I think the story in my book is it's a positive story.

But at the end of the day, what we're what we are working on right now is digging out of a 30 plus year backlog.

That started long before anybody was in office, before anybody was really at the DOT about, you know, catching up on deferred maintenance.

And that's what we've been really focused on since 2017.

We've been focused on pavements, focused on bridges, focused on our interstates and focused on safety.

But, you know, one of the challenges that we see across South Carolina right now is this, phenomenal rate of growth that we've seen.

So while we've seen a lot of advantages to that, the job growth, the income growth that South Carolina is doing.

But when, when you have the fourth largest state highway system, like we do in South Carolina of a state owned system, you know, we have that, burden, that challenge that comes from that growth.

We get the traffic and the complaints that come from it.

We know that the system is getting in better shape, but we know that we're dealing with this new challenge of growth and congestion coming to South Carolina.

Gavin> So kind of a "bear with us, pardon our mess," essentially at this stage, right.

Because there's so much going on.

Justin> And we got I mean, when you look at it, how much work is going on across South Carolina?

Nearly seven billion dollars worth of construction happening right now.

Projects in all 46 counties and projects on every single interstate.

Hundreds of bridges being rebuilt across South Carolina, Thousands of miles of paving going on right now.

You have to acknowledge that there is a tremendous amount of work, but there is still a lot to be done and continue to be done in South Carolina.

Gavin> And we'll talk about Momentum 2050, which is the next 25 years looking out.

But before we talk about that and other segments of the transportation infrastructure system.

The house created an Ad Hoc committee, look at modernizing SCDOT, legislation's expected in January.

There's been a bunch of hearings this past year.

What have you advocated for or what do you want to see come from this committee?

Justin> You know, I think there's, really kind of about three areas.

So certainly what I've been stressing is that we have been delivering what we were asked to deliver back in 2017, which was the last time we really had a major roads bill discussion in the General Assembly.

I'm focused on really three key areas.

One, we've got to get better at transportation planning.

We've got to better coordinate our efforts not only with the Port Authority, with our railroads, with our local governments, how that we can make sure that our investment is targeted, to deliver the biggest, biggest result for the taxpayer.

Second, we've got to upgrade our toolbox.

You know, we operate really on a toolbox from the 1950s, 60s, 70s, 80s, and 90s.

That's not necessarily what we need for 2025 South Carolina and beyond.

So we've got to look at, new procurement tools, looking at ways that we can bring private sector investment into our system.

And then, one area I'm really particularly interested in is is being able to assume from the federal government, the ability to do our own environmental decisions.

It's a big priority of the Trump administration.

But, you know, states as diverse as Florida, Texas and California have done it.

There's no reason why we can't do it in South Carolina.

But what we see is that it has an opportunity, to accelerate projects by months and years by what our other states have seen.

And then third, we've got to talk about funding.

The gas tax is flat in spite of all the growth we've seen in South Carolina.

Cars are getting more fuel efficient.

People are buying electric cars.

We've got to figure out ways to make sure that we have a sustainable stream of revenue that can keep up with the pressures of inflation that we've seen over the past several years.

Gavin> And that's really what Momentum 2050 is about.

Obviously, looking at what we need for the future of growth of the state.

But when you're talking about the gas tax, well there's that 12 cent gas tax increase?

We're at 28.75 cents a gallon right now, state taxes.

But you're talking about trying to raise, what, 970 million dollars more a year to kind of make to close this gap in terms of the needs that the agency sees.

I mean, how do you do that... how do you go to the General Assembly and say, we need 970 million dollars more?

Justin> Again, it's a 25 year plan.

So it's not just at one point in time, but I think it's the recognition that if we're going to start tackling growth at the end of the day and also keep up with the the mission that we've had over the past several years, catching up on the deferred maintenance on our state system, it's going to require investment.

And I think it can come from a variety of, of places and sources.

And again, that's a, that's a policy decision of the General Assembly.

But at the end of the day, if there's an expectation that South Carolina doesn't become a victim of its own success, that we choke on the traffic congestion that we're seeing, then we've got to continue to invest in our infrastructure and to keep that momentum we've had over the past several years.

Gavin> And that's one of the biggest issues too, congestion.

That's what people have been telling you about.

But before we get into all that, EV fees, I feel like that might be an easy lift if we can say when it comes to finding some more revenue generation at this time.

Because our EV fees, I mean, they're meant to offset the gas tax, but they're below the southeastern average for the most part.

Justin> So, you know, certainly, back in 2017, we were actually one of the first states to have a registration fee for electric and hybrid vehicles.

And so right now, if you have an electric vehicle, you're paying 120 dollars every two years.

So basically 60 dollars a year for the privilege, for using the roads.

Since you're not paying in that gas tax.

But a person who drives an internal combustion vehicle, gasoline vehicle, they're paying over 200 dollars a year towards the system.

So I think it's a question of, fairness, making sure that everybody's paying their fair share.

Gavin> And when you were talking about permitting and other things, those three areas you want to focus on.

Is that something that you think we'll see come in legislation this year from the State House?

Justin> I mean, I think I've gotten a lot of, feedback and positive feedback when we've been talking with the modernization committee about, taking on what's known as NEPA assignment, from the feds that I think it's... it's an easy win.

It does mean state has to take on more, but we're already doing a tremendous amount already, when we, when we try to get a project up that lets us control our own, destiny, make sure that our priorities are set forth.

And not having somebody in, an office in Washington driving where we need to go.

Gavin> And wrapping up Momentum 2050.

That's a, 98 page plan, it's comprehensive.

The Commission approved it this year.

It's basically a road map.

I mean, what do you hope it accomplishes?

It covers so many different aspects about transportation in our state.

But what do you hope it accomplishes in the next 25 years?

Justin> So you know, the momentum plan is required by the General Assembly.

We have to do it every five years.

What we've set out is a 25 year vision, and it looks at what's changing in South Carolina.

And what we've seen in South Carolina is really an acceleration in population growth.

You know we, we used to add about a half a million people every census.

We've already added well over 300,000 people in really just the first four years after the pandemic.

So, South Carolina is well on its way to having over 6 million people.

We've got to be ready for that.

But, and that means we look at keeping up with what we're doing, just maintaining or repairing our system.

We've got to continue to invest in our interstate projects like this one, all up and down South Carolina so we can keep people and freight moving across the state.

We've got to deal with this dual challenge that we have in South Carolina between our our urban areas where, you know, Charleston and, you know, the joke is Charleston is increasingly an hour away from Charleston.

But that's not really an untrue statement anymore.

But then we've got to make sure rural South Carolina, the Bambergs, the Marions, where transportation is increasingly that lifeline to just getting to jobs, getting to health care.

We've got to make sure we balance that.

And then fourth, we've got to work, better and partner better with the other modes.

So we may be the Department of Transportation, but Ports Authority, the Department of Public Safety, Office of Regulatory Staff, all of these other state agencies have a major role in moving South Carolina forward.

And so we've got to best align our resources and coordinate together better.

Gavin> And then I'm assuming that also local governments, county governments also look into this plan and see where they fit into it, too, and understand that a lot of this growth, a lot of this development is also affecting the congestion that so many people are concerned about too.

Justin> At the end of the day, we don't make the, the land use decision, that local government makes that land use decision.

And we've got to get better at integrating, their decisions into how we do that.

We do a lot of work with our 21 regional planning councils across the state, and we've got to continue to focus on making sure that we have, projects that address, you know, the needs of those local communities and... and spend the dollars as most effectively as possible.

Gavin> Secretary, we're here at the I-95, I-26 interchange in Orangeburg County.

This is a major project, one of many going on across the state right now.

Especially up and down 26.

I mean, if you're driving this corridor, people, people see it all the time.

Tell us about this project and where it fits in with the 26 widening.

And then also what's happening on I-95 as well.

Justin> Sure.

So 26 you know, we have three contracts actively underway.

Our goal is to widen 26 between Charleston and Columbia.

It routinely breaks down.

A lot of it is just because of, traffic partially going between Florida and the North, but it's also, traffic from the Port of Charleston and the Port of Savannah coming through.

So this is the intersection of all of that activity right now.

So this is an, over 200 million dollar interchange project.

What you're seeing right now, are two, flyover ramps coming over that will improve the movements between 26.

So you're not in that old school cloverleaf kind of movement from there.

So it should help alleviate that pinch point that happens routinely on 26 and 95, particularly during the holidays, during the summer.

But then we have two widening projects going on.

We have one, coming out of Columbia and Calhoun County right now, between 125 and 136, eleven mile project there.

And then we have another project happening down in the, Charleston area coming out of Jedburg heading towards Ridgeville.

All these projects right now 26/95 interchange, we're on target to finish this up at the end of 2026.

You'll see mid 2026, the section in Charleston and in 2027 the section in Calhoun County.

And then, we have basically, the entire corridor under design right now.

So we will be prepared as funds allow and as we make sure that we keep the traffic patterns going.

We don't want to put people in a 50 mile work zone.

We want to keep them in a 10 to 20 mile work zone.

So we'll continually have projects along the corridor.

Same thing's happening down on I-95 right now.

We just signed the largest contract in SCDOT's history, over 728 million dollar contract to widen the first eight miles of 95.

So we're gonna replace the bridge.

We're partnering with Georgia, replace the bridge over the Savannah River, and then the first eight miles of I-95, being widened up to six lanes there.

And then we have in design all the way up to exit 33.

So we've got a very robust and aggressive program to deal with you know, several corridors that we know are trouble spots here.

These are the complaints I get.

It's not... I still get complaints about potholes, but I get complaints about, getting backed up on 95, trying to get to... family or going to Disney World.

And so those are the things we've got to continue to focus on, because South Carolina has, is not this sleepy rural state anymore.

We're a rapidly growing state.

> And then Secretary, when we go further up 95 we're talking about the Lake Marion Bridge replacement, we'll talk about more bridges in a moment.

But that, that's been on your radar for a while.

You guys got federal money for that.

So what's the status of that?

And then we can talk more about bridges.

> So we just wrapped up the procurement on the Lake Marion Bridge.

We'll be signing that contract in the coming weeks.

And then what we'll see is that it's a design-build project.

So there'll be a little bit of time where they're going to be, finalizing the design on the project.

But you should see by, towards the end of 2026, you will see that new structure being built.

It will be, built for six lanes, will stripe it for four.

But be ready for that future growth on, the 95 corridor.

It will include a path for the Palmetto Trail to replace the existing aging structure that's across Lake Marion right now.

And then it actually will have a water line, being able to be built on it so that clean water can get from Orangeburg County, to Clarendon County as well.

So, a major project, just that, you know, long talked about long sought, never actually got to happen that's actually going to be coming out of that.

Gavin> That kind of goes with your concerns about the aging bridges, and we can get to that.

But the last time we talked was last year in August, I believe, and we were at "malfunction junction," Carolina Crossroads is the rebrand.

But that project is literally zooming along.

I mean, I feel like I see infrastructure projects.

We've always talked about going 95 in North Carolina where in Fayetteville area and it's always still under construction.

But what you see going on outside of Columbia is just pretty impressive with the flyovers, and it's still a work in progress.

It's like a billion dollar project, I believe.

Is that still on budget?

Is that still on time right now?

Justin> So it's, about a 2 billion dollar project.

You know, we had to resequence that project a few years ago.

But what we've been really focused on is keeping it in, manageable chunks that the industry, can deliver upon.

What we've done is, we're wrapping up the first two phases.

So Colonial Life is, at substantial completion.

So is the Broad River interchange.

We've just been clearing all of the trees, along that corridor.

And what that's really helping us do is focus on, relocating all the utilities in there.

Massive City of Columbia water pipe running through there.

Basically every electric and telecommunication line runs through that intersection.

So we've got to be able to, to relocate that.

So that's really going to be our next focus in the coming years, is getting all those utilities out of the way so we can start working on the very largest part of that, that turbine interchange at 26 and 20.

Gavin> Yeah, because you already saw that widening outside of that area too further up on 26 going towards the Upstate area.

And that's, that's been completed too.

So I mean, it's, you guys have been knocking off.

Has it been difficult getting these contractors, getting the equipment, getting the, materials needed?

I mean, we've talked about the purchasing power dropping and the need for more, more revenue because of that as a result of inflation.

But what's it like?

What are you hearing from vendors and construction companies about, whether it's labor or material costs?

Justin> They've been hit with inflation just like everybody else in your household budget, going to the grocery store.

I mean, obviously, it's a lot more expensive for me to buy the normal groceries for my family.

It's the same issue in terms of material labor, for them.

We have a robust dialog with, our industry, our construction partners.

And what I would say is they have responded.

So we, you know, on the bridge area, we get four to six bids, every bridge project we put out.

That's a sign of a competitive and healthy market.

On these large projects where, there's a smaller number of contractors available to take on a half billion dollar or bigger project.

We still see good, robust competition.

And we really work hard on trying to be a state of choice.

And so we're constantly in dialog, because we know we've got North Carolina, we know we've got Georgia, Florida and Virginia all nearby.

We're one of the smaller kids on the block relative to a lot of folks.

So we've got to work hard on making sure of that.

But, you know, the industry has responded.

You know, we had good competition on this.

We have, next big project down in the Charleston area is rebuilding the Long Point interchange into the Port of Charleston.

We had six teams aggressively competing for that project.

So we know that, the industry, when we time it right, and we work with them and communicate with them, responds.

Gavin> And is that our reputation?

Or is that because they know that there's a focus on the growth and that there's money coming in and we're not stagnant like some other states?

Justin> I think we work hard to make sure that we let folks know what we have available in South Carolina.

We maintain that dialog, but obviously there's going to be a lot of work happening in the Charleston area in the coming years.

And so I think, folks are interested and excited being able to get down there and work on it.

Gavin> Justin, we've had some closures of bridges over the past year.

I mean, happens every year.

There's load restrictions.

Sometimes there's a hole, sometimes something slips, in the bed there.

And we've talked about these bridges, issues before and it's been a focus of the, the agency right now with more than 2,000 of the 8,400 bridges owned by SCDOT are over 60 years old.

2,000, 2,400, somewhere around there.

Y'all have received 200 million dollars annually and one-time money from the General Assembly, what, two years in a row now?

<Yeah> Is this money making a dent?

I mean, we're talking about trying to get people to bid on these things and, you need, like, a billion dollars overall for these bridges to accelerate and expedite these repairs.

But, is the money making a dent?

Can you spend it enough?

I mean, fast enough, essentially?

Justin> So, you know, certainly the challenge South Carolina has is not a challenge that, is not immune to any other state in the country.

There are a lot of bridges were built in the 1950s, 60s and 70s.

And that's when we're hitting that point where we're aging out in terms of that bridge infrastructure across South Carolina.

We've been able to, we've revamped our bridge program basically top to bottom, really in the past several years.

Changed how we do inspections, changed how we do maintenance.

And we've reprioritized our, our construction program really focus on, closures, load postings and now trying to get ahead of that.

The money... so in fiscal year '25, the General Assembly gave us 200 million dollars.

We basically put the entire amount of money to work.

So everything's tied up to a project now, and you're starting to see those projects get lit and get design and go from there.

We had the same this year.

General Assembly put in 200 million dollars again.

We've already, been planning a program.

We don't get access to that money until February.

But when we do, we'll be ready to move quickly and put that money under contract quickly.

Gavin> And I'm guessing the lawmakers are seeing the need for that, too.

I mean, there are... do you think there will be an appetite to give you another 200 million dollars this year?

What are you guys asking for, for this year?

Justin> I made the same- I've actually made it a 300 million dollars ask because we've seen the construction industry, respond to it.

And certainly that'll be a decision of the General Assembly to make.

But I think what we've seen is that we've, we have, have responded in terms of putting some money to use.

We see good competition, from the industry to, to do that.

And we've got a need.

I mean, we've got, major issues of load postings and closures, really, particularly in the upstate in this way kind of a bridge design we used in the 1960s that, they're aging out right now.

And we've got to be able to keep up with it because, you can drive on bad pavement, but you, if a bridge is closed, you can't drive across that bridge.

Gavin> And you guys have already, I guess, upped the number of bridges to 550 in that first ten year plan.

And of course, we're talking about 2,000.

So it's ongoing.

What's your word of advice to folks who might be concerned about bridges when they hear that number?

Y'all do your inspections all the time.

What's that inspection process like?

And how do you guys ensure that the traveling public is safe?

Justin> So we do an inspection at a minimum every two years on a bridge.

If we've got a bridge in a condition that we have concern about, we'll actually do more, more frequent inspections, six month, one month, one year intervals.

But we will, we inspect every component within an arm's length.

So every part of that bridge is being looked at, if there's a safety concern, will immediately close it, and try to figure out a solution to move on it quickly.

But it is evaluated.

That's why we put the load postings on there for trucks of a certain weight, crossing over, we want to make sure we don't have, you know, damage or issues come up with it.

But, we look at all those bridges every two years, we do an underwater scuba inspection on any bridge, in more than four feet of water every five years.

So they're constantly being looked at and then we've put into place, maintenance teams in all seven of our districts.

Emulating really something we've done in the lower part of the state to emulate in the upper part of the state and the Pee Dee to get ahead of those issues so that when we have, a flag or a finding on one of those inspections, those folks can jump on it and work on it quickly.

Gavin> We have less than five minutes left, Secretary, I want to ask you about pavements and congestion.

I'm assuming pavements have always been the top issue that you hear complaints about too, because it's so obvious for folks driving.

But what's, what's it like?

How do you guys evaluate these roads and how is that going?

It's like a 2 billion dollar program, right now when it comes just to pavements in the state.

Are we getting better in terms of getting closer to good, what you guys declare as good condition.

Justin> So our, you know, what we do is similar to basically like bridges, we are constantly evaluated.

We have trucks that literally drive around the state and measure them with lasers and sensors about what's the condition of it.

How good?

Is it good?

Is it fair, or poor it may be.

You know, again, we're dealing with a pretty sizable backlog on a very, very large system.

So a 41,000 mile system.

For comparison, Florida has a 12,000 mile system.

Georgia has a 17,000 mile system.

So South Carolina has a lot to keep up with.

We've already gotten nearly a quarter of the system since the ten year plan got underway, to be repaved.

So we're seeing, a dramatic improvement.

On our interstates, when all this started, we were at 65 percent good.

We're at 80 percent good.

On our primary routes, so those are your US 17s US 378s when we started the ten year plan, they were at 19 percent good.

We're at over 40 percent good.

Now, that's still saying we still got a long ways to go, but the systems in recovery, particularly on the roads where we have the highest amounts of traffic, which our interstates and our primary routes, which are about 80 percent of the state's travel.

Gavin> Yeah.

I mean, and you see it too like through like main thoroughfares and like, you know, Columbia and other areas too.

I mean, it's getting done.

It just takes time like we're saying.

But congestion remains the biggest issue that we saw in the 2050 Momentum Plan that respondents asked about too.

How do you tackle the congestion?

I mean, again, we always talk about you can only add so many lanes.

We talked about widening 26, well that will help to an extent.

You can only widen so many roads and some roads you can't widen.

And so how do you handle congestion?

How do you, how do you change the focus for people to maybe think outside the box on this?

Justin> You know, certainly, you can widen your way.

Those are oftentimes the most expensive, most complex projects to, to take on.

We've been focused a lot on what are, quick hit type things retiming traffic signals, doing intersection improvements, adding turn lanes, those things that can, try to move as much throughput through in that same volume from there.

But, you know, we're looking at different things.

You know, certainly in the Charleston area, again, there's a finite amount of real estate that you can do in Charleston.

We're partnering with, the local transit authority there, Charleston County, on a bus rapid transit system, Which would be the first in the state, one longest in the country.

That would basically be, able to, people get downtown and from Ladson to downtown about an hour, through that.

That's, a major project we're working on.

I think one of the things that I think we're hearing from the modernization committee and, I think it'll be discussed in this coming year, are looking at things like, choice lanes that you have, like in North Carolina, and Georgia, where... you can buy your way out of congestion.

I think that's going to be something that we're going to have to look at as a tool in our toolkit, particularly in places like, a Charleston and the Charlotte suburbs and Greenville, of how we can, move as many people through within the funds that we have available to us.

Gavin> Is that as close as we're going to get to tolls in South Carolina?

I know, we have some limited tolling, but I mean, is there any appetite for more widespread tolling or is that- Justin> I think that's going to be, that's going to be the discussion this year.

And I think that we're getting to a point, particularly places like Charleston where, the projects are getting very significant, very expensive.

You know, what are options that we have on there?

Right now, it's not an option for me to put on the table.

It's not something I can consider because I don't have the statutory authority to even look at it.

Gavin> And Justin, last question so about a minute left.

We talked about natural disasters.

You're doing all this building.

Almost seven billion dollars worth of building projects.

And then Hurricane Helene comes through the state last year and just wreaks havoc north of 95 and 26.

You guys, did a lot of debris removal.

There was some damage to infrastructure up there.

What's the status of that?

You're asking for 150 million dollars, I think for unreimbursed cost this budget year.

How is that moving and what's the latest with that?

Justin> So, we've been, because of some of the reimbursements that we have, we've been able to bring that ask down and the General Assembly did give us, 35 million dollars last year.

And that should be able to cover what we've had.

But from a debris mission perspective, we ended and completed that earlier this year.

Over 5,000,000 cubic yards basically four Empire State Buildings worth of debris picked up across South Carolina.

Our largest debris mission since Hurricane Hugo.

At our peak, after Helene, we had 900 roads closed.

We're down to three more bridges that'll be done by the end of the year, and then we'll be able to wrap up the Helene mission.

But we get hit with natural disasters.

You know not very far from here in Orangeburg County, there was a kind of a freak rain event in Orangeburg, and Calhoun County.

Dumped about a foot of rain.

And we've been dealing with the same thing, bridge repairs.

So it's just part of the normal doing business.

And what I'm proud about, is our DOT team always is nimble, responds and works tirelessly to get things back open again.

Gavin> SCDOT Secretary Justin Powell, thank you.

Justin> Thank you, Gavin.

Gavin> For South Carolina ETV, I'm Gavin Jackson, in Lexington County.

Be well, South Carolina.

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