SC's interstates in sorry shape

[Charleston native]

I agree, and if Arcadia(?) takes off, then it could be very soon that this area really develops. I think it was just ahead of its time.

If any road in SC should be a toll road, it should be the cooper river bridge. No joke. It's a heavily used route and maybe all that money that spent wouldn't seem so painful if its paying for itself down the road...

A toll for the bridge was suggested, but you should have seen and heard the uproar over the mere suggestion! Traffic was bad enough on the old bridges, and a toll on the new one (which is supposed to clear up traffic) would have been counterproductive.

The bridge is part of US 17, and each state is supposed to maintain US highways, much like the interstates. SCDOT did fund some of the bridge, but it was also a local effort with a 1/2 cent county tax increase and the State Ports Authority also helping with the funding. It wasn't a pure state project...which was good in that it allowed for more local involvement.

[Jerseyman4]

Tollbooths these days are now "high speed" if vehicles are carrying transponders (EZ-Pass) but im glad theres no toll on the Ravenel Bridge

[Charleston native]

Amen to that! I'm glad Ravenel is just a clear drive across the river.

[myrtlesquare]

Tollbooths these days are now "high speed" if vehicles are carrying transponders (EZ-Pass) but im glad theres no toll on the Ravenel Bridge

That's true. In Illinois, they are beginning a new system called Open Road Tolling. You don't even have to stop to pay if you have an IPASS (similar to EZ-Pass) card. The traffic flow was quite quick and some toll plazas opened up to 10 lanes for easy traffic flow before Open Road Tolling.

See the video here about Open Road Tolling.

The Illinois Tollway Authority also took out major bottlenecks in their tollway system a couple of years ago and it helped traffic flow drastically.

I do agree that once the road has been paid for, toll booths need to be taken away (some have been in place in Chicago since 1958 and earlier). I assume that after the authority paid for the road, the rest of the toll paid to improve it. At the beginning of 2005, the Toll Authority doubled the toll on all toll plazas which caused quite a stir among Chicago residents.

By the way, Jerseyman4, what are tollways like in the Northeast?

[Jerseyman4]

After driving I-20 between US 1 (west of downtown Columbia) and the US 1 exit for Aiken, i found it to be worse than I-95!

By the way, Jerseyman4, what are tollways like in the Northeast?

Ummm.... they suck?

[krazeeboi]

It's been a few years since I've driven that stretch of I-20.

[BrasilnSC]

SC only gets back anywhere between 90 and 97% of the Fed. Gas Tax it collects. That is why it is a donor state. That money goes to states that have small populations and cannot collect enough money for their roads like Alaska.

SC also depends too much on the gas tax or "user fees" to fund it's road projects. 81% of its funding comes from the "user fees" to be exact. This fee needs to be increased, but with hybrids and other fuel efficient cars becoming more popular and high gas prices resulting in less fuel consumption, the funding crisis is only getting worse, so other funding options need to be looked at.

An axle fee would be ideal. Since 18-wheelers and other heavy trucks are the main cause of road detioration, they should pay a larger amount. Also, weight station need to be open 24/7 to catch overloaded trucks that are damaging the roads and fine them (well, the companies of course), therefore collection more funds.

I-385 between I-26 and Fountain Inn is bad, although some resurfacing has been done around there. Haven't been down I-95 in a few years, but it was bad back then, I'm sure it is worse now.

[Spartan]

Its not that bad. Its mostly been resurfaced now.

[SpartanTS]

I-20 to Augusta from Columbia at the 26/20 Interchange is pretty rough. I-26 has a small rough spot about 3 miles before the 385/26 split, but other than that it's a smooth ride.

As for the toll road, what Atlanta bound traffic is coming from Clinton - north? None, which is exactly why I think that road is useless.