As drivers in the state gas-up for the Fourth of July holiday, they’ll find the lowest gas prices in the nation. Six cents lower than at this time last year according to AAA motor club.
That’s good news for South Carolina motorists because the state tax on gas goes up two cents a gallon on July 1st. It’s the first of two cent per gallon tax hikes we’ll see for the next six years to pay for millions of dollars to improve state roads which were again this week described as the deadliest in the nation.
After a six-year phase in of the new gas tax, the S.C. Department of Transportation will have approximately $800 million dollars every year to spend on maintaining and improving state roads.
The new funding has allowed DOT to implement a ten-year plan that will see interstate highway widenings, repairs of over 300 structurally impaired bridges, and thousands of miles of re-paving across the state system. This year DOT will focus on putting an end to that distinction of state highways being the deadliest in the nation. It plans to spend $50 Million on safety improvements on 45 stretches of the most dangerous, non-interstate, rural roads where most fatalities occur.
