Reforming the DOT in South Carolina
Background
South Carolina is home to spectacular ecosystems that hold a special place in the country’s natural legacy, as well as support tourism, the state’s #1 industry. Unfortunately, the state’s transportation agency was heading down a path of road-construction that would criss-cross the state with unnecessary highways, directly impacting these ecological jewels and leading to sprawl development.
SELC has been deeply involved for many years in transportation issues in South Carolina, including disputes over proposed major highways that would fragment habitat, encourage development in key natural areas and add to air and water pollution. Much of this site-specific work highlighted the need to reform how the SC Department of Transportation selected its highway expansion projects to fully consider environmental impacts, as well as less damaging and less costly alternatives to paving over more land.
In 2006, a scandal broke when a legislative audit of SCDOT found the agency had wasted millions of dollars and violated state law and federal transportation regulations. Among other things, the audit said SCDOT had paid nearly twice as much as necessary for consultants, and found problems with preconstruction contracts and the agency’s internal audits. The findings led to the resignation of the director of the department and a call by the governor to restructure SCDOT to reduce political influence in project selection and increase fiscal accountability
SELC and our close ally in South Carolina, the Coastal Conservation League, were poised to capitalize on this critical opportunity. We offered a detailed proposal to state lawmakers to quickly and effectively reform SCDOT’s project selection process. Our proposal included five major components:
- Objective and comprehensive evaluation of all proposed projects based on statutory criteria including environmental impacts, safety, cost and legitimate transportation needs;
- Ranking and prioritizing projects for funding based on this evaluation;
- Consideration of alternatives, including scaled down versions of proposed projects and "functional" alternatives to meet demonstrated transportation needs;
- A meaningful hearing process for major projects with specific requirements to ensure effective public review and participation;
- Adequate funding dedicated to maintain existing transportation infrastructure as the top agency priority over advancing new construction projects.
SELC and the Coastal Conservation League developed political support for our proposals from key legislators. While there was much opposition from politicians who understood the implications of fiscal accountability for pet projects of questionable merit, on the very last day of a tumultuous legislative session the reform bill was finally adopted. The first four of our five priorities listed above were included in the final version of the legislation.
Our final priority concerning maintenance funding will be taken up in the 2008 General Assembly session. Over the next year we also will be working with the agency and partner groups to ensure that strong regulations are adopted to implement this legislative victory. In addition, the South Carolina legislation can serve as a model for reform of the DOT project selection process in other states in our region.
