Editorial: Vote 'Yes' on the roads tax referendum

Greenville County voters have the opportunity Tuesday to approve a temporary 1 percent county sales tax with the revenue going for critically needed improvements to the infrastructure throughout the county. The roads and bridges throughout South Carolina are deplorable and in many cases dangerous.

In a perfect world Greenville County voters would not see the referendum question on the ballot Tuesday because the state Legislature long ago would have discovered the wisdom and courage to adequately maintain our state's infrastructure. State lawmakers have shirked their duty, and Gov. Nikki Haley has made it easy for them to do so by promising to veto any increase in the state gasoline tax.

The burden increasingly has fallen on the more progressive counties to provide the revenue needed to build roads to relieve traffic congestion, repair other roads that are a safety hazard because they are pitted with potholes and have crumbling shoulders, and provide sidewalks so children won't be in harm's way when they walk to school.

Greenville County voters have many compelling reasons to vote "Yes" Tuesday on the Transportation Projects Funding Referendum Ordinance. The state does not have a plan to fix our roads. Those roads and bridges will continue to deteriorate if they are not fixed. Traffic congestion in the busiest parts of the county will only get worse. Greenville will put at risk its economic interests because quite frankly good infrastructure is important to economic development.

The process that has led to Tuesday's referendum has been open and inclusive. Greenville County Council has followed the law and ensured that all citizens had an opportunity to contribute to the development of the list of projects that will be funded by this sales tax. Comprehensive information can be found at grnol.co/1q3fU7z and that GreenvilleOnline.com link can take you to even more information on Greenville County's website.

If voters approve the roads sales tax, it will last for only eight years or until it raises $673,193,630 in revenue — whichever comes first. The county is required to fund the projects on the list developed by the Greenville Citizens Roads Advisory Commission and approved by the County Council.

Voters uncertain of how they will vote should check out the projects. A careful examination of this list will reveal the fundamental fairness and sound judgment that went into the process leading to this referendum. The revenue will go to four areas:

1. Improvements to highways, roads, streets and intersections to include widening, realignment and signalization of existing roads and construction of new roads in the amount of $297,770,000. This area includes a parallel route to Woodruff Road that will help alleviate crippling congestion; improvements to Fork Shoals Road; widening Brushy Creek Road and Hammett Bridge Road; and adding turn lanes and signals to roads such as Blue Ridge (253), Miller Road, State Park, Lee Vaughn and Bethel.

2. Resurfacing of highways, roads and streets in the amount of $300,000,000. Found on the pages of roads picked for resurfacing, or at least in part, are: Neely Ferry Road, Edwards Road, Third Avenue in Judson, Cherry Street, Hampton Avenue, Jones Mill Road, Hillside Circle and Mimosa Drive.

3. Improvements to bridges to include replacing, installing, constructing and rehabilitating bridges in the amount of $27,800,000. Work includes McKelvey Road over Huff Creek (bridge replacement), Queen Street Bridge (rehab), Miller Road over Gilder Creek (replacement) and Hampton Avenue Pedestrian Bridge (install).

4. Improvements to pedestrian-related transportation facilities to include adding, improving and repairing sidewalks, crosswalks, trails, and bike lanes in the amount of $47,623,630. Sidewalks will be added to at least parts of Poinsett Highway, Old Buncombe Road, Chick Springs Road, Suber Road and Westcliffe Way. A very small amount of money (up to $1.8 million) will be used for an extension of the popular Swamp Rabbit Trail in Simpsonville.

Some fierce opponents of any sort of tax increase, not just this one for roads, are claiming voters cannot be assured where the money raised from the roads sales tax will go. That's not true. By law all of the projects must be defined, and the County Council is restricted by law as to how it can spend this money.

Funds from the sales tax will go to improve roads in Greenville County that are in poor shape and to expand the infrastructure to accommodate extraordinary growth. As Greenville County Councilman Butch Kirven wrote recently in an op-ed on this page, Greenville County as grown by nearly 100,000 people since the 2000 census, and our infrastructure simply cannot handle almost half a million people.

People can legitimately argue that a gasoline tax is better than a sales tax, but the undeniable fact is that a gas tax is not an option for the county and the Legislature has failed to adequately provide for state roads. The 18-person Greenville Citizens Roads Advisory Commission was formed by County Council to officially investigate the condition of the county's infrastructure and make recommendations. These people represented all parts of Greenville County. Commission members have been your neighbors for decades, and they will be here in Greenville County after Tuesday's election.

The findings from this commission were shocking but also no surprise. After all, South Carolina has some of the worst and most deadly roads in the country. The state's own transportation engineers have given the state system a failing grade; it would cost an additional $1.5 billion to $2 billion a year for 20 years to fix the state system. Almost 70 percent of the road surfaces in Greenville County have been rated poor by state engineers.

Many roads were not designed to handle the heavy traffic that they now carry. Many more roads are crumbling and there is not the money to repair them. Some bridges have been closed because they are dangerous and drivers are forced to find other, longer routes. Children do not have sidewalks to use to go to and from school in many neighborhoods.

This roads plan was put together by Greenville residents after a full examination of the problem and complete input from people who spoke at seven public meetings throughout the county or who submitted written comments.

Help is not coming from the state, or at least not adequate help in an acceptable time frame. Greenville County residents should not be forced to wait decades — or what is a lifetime, really, for many people — to get better roads.

There's nothing fishy going on with this referendum. Nothing is being hidden from voters. Tuesday's vote is about one thing: Greenville County voters fixing the roads in our county through a temporary 1 percent sales tax.