intended to garner public support. The irony though: a recent survey reports 50 per cent of the population in favor of a slight gas tax increase to support road development. “Even without a lot of education the public recognizes this as an issue and is ahead of the legislature on how to fix it,” he says. Ross cites damage to vehicles and lost time sitting in traffic as key fac- tors behind the public awareness. Besides a gas tax Ross suggests South Carolina could follow the model of other states that have set indexing pro- posals to include driving-related fees in- cluding registration and licensing to factor into the funding sources. According to an October 2013 report by TRIP, a nonprofit organization that re- searches, evaluates and distributes eco- nomic and technical data on surface transportation issues, 84 percent of the $156 billion worth of commodities deliv- ered annually from sites in South Carolina is transported by trucks on the state’s highways. The TRIP report indicates that a balanced approach to infrastructure investment is needed for resurfacing existing roads and highways, widening and fixing our interstates, fixing and strengthening load restricted and structurally de- ficient bridges 3 16 – December 2013 / January 2014 — The South Carolina Construction News When compared to its primary com- petitors for economic development, the report indicates that “South Carolina, Georgia and North Carolina are far be- hind. South Carolina spends an average of $15,000 per mile while Georgia spends $35,000 per mile and North Carolina spends more than $150,000 per mile on roads.” According to Hope, since the leg- islature approved the funding in June, the SCDOT staff and commission have worked to pull together the most current road project priorities, as outlined in the State’s Transportation Infrastructure Plan (STIP). Those projects were submitted to the State Infrastructure Bank (SIB) and then the Joint Bond Review Committee (JBRC) for approval. The JBRC gave final approval of the projects on Dec 4, 2013. That $549 mil- lion plan includes four projects in the state and funding to start the engineering of other projects, she said. The funding, the result of Act 98 passed by the General Assembly during its 2013 session, allocates $50 million per year to the South Carolina Department of Transportation (SCDOT) who will in turn, turn that funding over to the SCTIB board for the approval of projects. The funding list approved by the SCTIB board includes: a 4.3 mile project at the I-85/385 interchange in Grenville County, ranked number two on the Interstate Improvement priority list; widening of I-20 in Lexington County; I-85 widening in Spartanburg and Cherokee counties - Phase I and Phase II; and I-77 widening in Richland county. The SCTIB board has also approved $10 million for pre- liminary engineering of the number one project on the In- terstate improvement priority list: the I-20/I-26 interchange project in the Midlands commonly known as "Malfunction Junction." Hope says construction projects “have to go through, at times, some rather lengthy planning stages, so the plan- ning will begin immediately and the public could start to see construction on some of the projects by 2016.” She is waiting on details from SCDOT to outline bidding processes and timelines. Ross says the move to fund projects is about time, but will it be in time? “South Carolina has $330 billion invested in infrastructure,” he says. “When you don’t maintain something it gets costlier to fix and the work of fixing it be- comes more complicated.” Once work on the four projects identified begins, Ross says it will be up to SCFOR and other like-organizations to keep the pressure on and to ensure work continues in this area. “Transportation is a major factor affecting quality of life and ultimately safety. South Carolina is not alone in the condition of some of our infrastructure but we must be dili- gent in ensuring our issues are resolved.”