♪ opening music ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ >> Welcome to This Week in South Carolina.

I'm Gavin Jackson.

Up and down South Carolina construction is happening on various roads and bridges, and SC Department of Transportation Chief of Staff Justin Powell, gives us an update on how work is progressing, and what other projects are on the horizon, but first, it was announced this week that 100,000 homes received broadband Internet access this year.

Jim Stritzinger, director of the South Carolina broadband office, joins us now to discuss this, as well as where we stand in closing the broadband gap in the state.

Jim, welcome back.

<Jim> Thanks, Gavin.

It's great to be here with you.

<Gavin> So Jim, obviously, the big news this week, a big accomplishment for the SC broadband office was that South Carolina has provided Internet connectivity for 100,000 homes across the state in the past year, tell us how you guys achieved this goal?

>> Well, I want to be clear, it's l00,000 homes now have access to the Internet, and first is actually connecting the home.

So, that's a big differential, but each home gets to choose whether they want to subscribe or not.

So, that's the difference between access and adoption, but it's big news, we're super excited about it.

It's...an a whole of government effort.

Everybody's in.

It's a big team approach.

By and large, you know, the role of the broadband office is not to actually install fiber, we don't put a single mile of fiber in the ground.

We don't connect a single home.

our job is to make investments in the ISPs.

So really, this whole announcement is a tribute to the Internet service providers, working some extraordinary, working extraordinarily hard and tirelessly to lift up the state.

>> So Jim, when we've talked about working with those ISPs, we talk about additional funding.

Obviously, that's always been a big issue, getting that additional money, which we now have through a variety of sources, which we'll talk about, how are you doing that, specifically, when we talk about this influx of money and working with those Internet service providers?

<Jim> Well, we're dealing with a very sophisticated analytical approach, which has served us well.

We look at a lot of different data dimensions, and one of the beauties of being at state government is working with other state agencies to pull data together.

For example, South Carolina Department of Education, we actually have the street addresses for all 785,000 public K-12 students, and that allows us to accurately prioritize certain census blocks around the state.

So we make sure our kids can do their homework.

We're also looking at places where we've had public benefits.

So, like SNAP and TANF.

So, when we have communities that have high need, we're able to prioritize those for infrastructure, as well, and, you know, that's what we do.

So, we look community by community.

We look for holes in our infrastructure, and we try to fill them as quickly as possible.

<Gavin> So, Jim, kind of talk about that, that prioritization process here.

Tell us how you guys are focusing these efforts, this money in a targeted way to close the broadband gap in the state?

<Jim> Yeah, so the General Assembly gave us our marching orders, and we have three conditions that make a census block, you know, that's our fabric of the state of South Carolina is individual Census blocks, but they told us to look at three things, places which have a lot of public school students, or places which are high need.

They're known as difficult development areas by the US housing and urban development, and the third, the third priority condition is a place where there's no Internet service provider, and a lot of people don't understand in South Carolina, that there are geographies where there is no provider.

This is not a affordability issue.

This is simply a lack of infrastructure issue, and so we want to prioritize those areas as quickly as possible and get them service.

<Gavin> So Jim, when you talk about those three conditions, can you give us some examples, geographically of where some of these disconnected areas are in the state?

I'm guessing it's all over, but any where more so than other places, and maybe some areas that are more connected that we wouldn't expect to be connected?

<Jim> Sure, well, we've actually published an eligibility map for our grant rounds.

So, on June 30th, we opened up a grant round and the way that we do that is we have an eligibility map.

We're required to do all of our work with competitive bidding.

So, we put out a map and then all the Internet service providers compete for that.

So, any of your viewers can take a look at SC Digital Drive, and they can look at the eligibility map and the dark red areas on the map are the priority Census blocks, and the pink areas are generically just they're also unserved, but they're not priority ones.

So, that's how we do it, and but specifically, areas like Allendale and Bamberg, and Barnwell have traditionally been places that are hard to reach and are high need areas, but also Oconee County, the western part of Oconee county is a big area.

There are places in Marlboro County,Chesterfield, Georgetown, pretty much there's priority areas all over the state.

So, I want everybody to know, we're - this is a statewide look.

This is not just one county or another.

It's all states and everything's got priorities all over the place.

<Gavin> And Jimmy, you were talking about getting the first grant round open this summer.

Talk about the money that you have right now.

Do you have enough money?

Where's it coming from, and how's it going to be parsed out over the coming years?

<Jim> So, the South Carolina General Assembly on May 13, they awarded $400 million to complete the broadband infrastructure or to invest in that.

That's coming from the American Rescue Plan Act, or ARPA, as it's known.

That really comes to us in two pieces.

There's state and local fiscal Recovery Fund, There's also what's known as the Capital Projects Fund.

Those are two separate buckets of dollars, and they have different, different conditions, but that's $400 million, and what we've done is we've opened up a $180 million grant round.

All of the applications are now in house at the broadband office, and we're reviewing all of them right now, and we will be able to make grant awards before the end of the year, which is super exciting.

Then, the nice thing about that is or the thing to be mindful of is that's the first step, we have to make the investment and then it takes about two years for construction to complete.

So, I want to set everybody's expectations that you know, Internet doesn't happen overnight.

We have to make the investment, and then the construction has to unfold.

>> So, that's a huge amount of money, but how did we I know we talked about it a moment ago, but what got us to the first 100,000 homes?

Is that, - was that from prior pandemic funding?

How did we get so quickly 100,000 right there in the past year?

<Jim> What's been really exciting is it's the combined effort of all of the Internet service providers.

So, there's, really three forces in play.

There's state money.

We were able to invest a $30 million of state money in what's known as the rural broadband grant program, and that was a...combination of Officer regulatory staff working together with Department of Commerce.

Really great project.

We also had federal money coming into the state of South Carolina.

We don't have any control over that Gavin, we're... That comes in from the Federal Communications Commission, as well as US Department of Agriculture.

So those are the federal sources coming into the state, and then thirdly, quite honestly, private investment, the Internet service providers are in putting their own money in, and it's not trivial either.

It's a lot of money, and the combination of those three factors, all working together has led us to the announcement that happened on Monday.

<Gavin> So Jim, that being said, we still have a gap out there, the broadband gap.

What's that look like?

When do you think that will be closed?

Do we have enough money to close that gap right now?

<Jim> So, you do the math, [coughs] Excuse me.

In September last year, we calculated there were about 221,000 households in South Carolina that were lacking Internet.

So, we think pretty carefully that we've gotten it to - we've definitely knocked off 100,000.

We think there's between 125 and 150,000 homes left.

The reason I'm being a little soft on the number is we have a lot of new data coming at us.

We are, the federal government is moving to what's called the broadband service location fabric, which is street address level reporting.

We are folding all of that data into our model, and to really try to be as precise as we can, but 125, 150,000 homes left.

We have $400 billion that we're going to be putting in place over the next couple of years, and it's a really exciting time because candidly, I can see us closing the margin very rapidly in calendar year 2023.

You know, publicly what we're saying is it's three years from when we got started, so last year, so by December of 2024.

We think we'll have investments in place to cover all of South Carolina and then it will take another two years calendar year 2026 for construction to complete.

So, three to five years, we'll get it done.

<Gavin> And then Jim, you were saying about adoption.

Obviously, we're putting lines in the ground or stringing them up on telephone poles.

What about adoption?

How many folks have signed up for Internet service, or, how are we going to get it so people can afford Internet service if they can't right now?

<Jim> Those are the big deals.

There's a number - one, or two things.

Affordability is the number one reason why people do not bring Internet in their house, of course, they have to have access first, but the second thing is, is they need a functioning computer.

A lot of people don't realize, why bring Internet in your house if you don't have a PC that works.

So thankfully, Department of Education has invested a lot in one to one devices.

So, a lot of the kids are already coming home from school with a computer in their hands, a functioning unit, and we're working hard on the affordability side, the federal government has what's known as the ACP program, the Affordable Connectivity Program, which offers low income households the ability to get a $30 a month subsidy, which is exciting and more.

We're doing everything we can to get the infrastructure available, and then we're trying to make people aware of the subsidy if they need some help to get signed up.

<Gavin> Gotcha.

So, it's going to be a transformational couple of years here in South Carolina when it comes to broadband.

That's super interesting, exciting.

That's Jim Stritzinger.

He's director of the South Carolina broadband office.

Jim, thanks so much.

<Jim> Thanks so much.

Great to be with you.

<Gavin> Justin Powell is the Chief of Staff at the South Carolina Department of Transportation, and he joins me now to discuss ongoing and future infrastructure projects in our state.

Justin, welcome to the show.

<Justin> Thank you appreciate you having me.

<Gavin> So let's just start right off.

Now Justin, talk about the gas tax, everyone's favorite thing to hate.

That's the 12 cent gas tax that was fully implemented July 1, tell us about how much additional money is now coming to the state and where that money is going.

<Justin> Sure, the General Assembly passed the 2017 roads bill.

It included a 12 cent increase in the gas tax that was phased in two years.

So, it was started in July 1 2017 was first two cent increase, and it's been going up each year by an increment from there after that point, and so July 1 of this year was the last year of the increases of that, and so it's been fully phased in.

So that generates about 600 million or more per year for D.O.T.

to really reinvest in our road network and to catch up on 30 years of deferred maintenance.

<Gavin> Gotcha.

So, like you said it was passed in 2017.

Tell us some of the accomplishments.

Since then, what we've seen in that money kind of getting put into use there.

Especially now that it's fully phased in.

<Justin> Sure.

So the 2017 roads bill really gave D.O.T., an opportunity to rethink how it's been approaching roadwork within the state with those new funds.

In the past, we've had just done things really just 1% more, 2% profit more per year, what we did was implement a 10 year strategic plan, really to target our investments really decide on what we wanted to accomplish, and to measure those accomplishments.

So, we really focused on four key areas of investment through that 10 year plan.

So, we wanted to focus first on our pavements catch up on 30 years of deferred maintenance on that, and we set out a goal to really increase the percent good of our system, and since the 2017 roads bill has been put in place, we put over 5800 miles of pavement out on the street right now, the percent good of our system, we know we still have a ways to go but has doubled.

In the past five years, we focused on bridges.

We set a goal of 465 bridges.

We can already put - 274 are either complete or under construction right now, and we've actually raised our goal, because of the progress we've made to 500 bridges.

Third, we have the unfortunate distinction of having the nation's worst railroad fatality rate.

So we really want to tackle and address that issue.

So, we set out a goal of tackling 1000 miles of railroad safety improvements.

That's adding rumble strips making shoulders wider, clearing vegetation, those things that can keep a driver either in their lane and if they get out of their lane that they have enough time to correct get back into the lane.

So we've already got over 700 miles of that underway, and so we've increased our goal on that to 1250 miles as well, and then last, our major goal too, was working on our interstate system.

The interstates are really the arteries of commerce for South Carolina.

Really, our industry and our visitors and our residents depend upon that interstate system.

It's only 800 miles but it carries over 30% of our state's traffic.

So, we set out a goal to tackle the three biggest freight pinch points in the state So, that's the Greenville 85,385 interchange there.

That project is complete.

The I-26 126, I-20 interchange, most known in the local area as "Malfunction Junction", we've started work on that, and we're about to get under way with the procurement for the largest section of that project.

That's probably about a $2 billion project, and then later on, once the I-20 project in Columbia is well underway, we're going to be working on the 526, 26 interchange, but we also have widening projects, interchange projects, basically going on in every corner of the state, in the upstate on 85, outside of Charlotte, interchange projects on I-77, projects on I-20 and I-26 here in the Midlands, and then we are just about, we're getting underway with widening projects coming out of Charleston on I-26.

>>So, a lot going on, and we can talk...more in detail about those projects, as well, Justin, but, you know, you say all that.

You're telling me about how things are improving, especially in five years going on six years now in this 10 year plan, but what's your response when you hear from folks in the community who say, "Yeah, but my roads are still in poor condition.

", or you know, "Things aren't where they should be?".

What's your response to those folks?

<Justin> Sure, I mean, I think you got to keep in mind that the situation, the potholes that we have, that's really from a 30 year, deferred maintenance that we've had in the system, and so it's going to take time to recover that, but what I would say is, is the comments and feedback we get from residences, is less about a particular road segment anymore, and more about complaints about traffic, and the issues we've had with road construction, just the pain of progress, sometimes that comes along.

We jokingly say now that the orange cone might be replacing the Yellow Jasmine as the state flower.

So, I think as we move forward with that, that continued progress, I think we're shifting away from the condition of the system and really towards the progress that we're making towards it.

<Gavin> So Justin, when we talk about the gas tax, you're talking about, like you said, about $600 million annually, coming from that increase in the gas tax.

What about why the you know, what's your response to why the state didn't suspend that gas tax, especially over the summer, when we saw gas prices hit record highs, we saw our neighbors down in Georgia, suspend that gas tax?

They actually renewed that suspension through November.

Why didn't we do something similar?

Could we have done something similar?

>> I think there's a, that's a great question, Gavin.

There's a common misconception that when you are at the pump, you are paying the gas tax at the retailer, It's actually collected at the wholesale level by the petroleum company that's collecting it.

You know, there's been a lot of research done of Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, actually just completed a study that said that in those states that have suspended their gas taxes, the savings of that reduction in the gas tax is not always necessarily passed on to the consumer, and oftentimes, it's kept by the oil company in the process.

So, you know, anecdotally, I took a trip to Florida, this past summer, just when Georgia had implemented its gas tax suspension, and I had to fuel up just outside of Augusta and I paid gas tax, you know, paid for my gas there, and when I continued on down the road, got off the interstate here in Columbia, the price at the pump was the same as it was in Georgia.

So I think it's important to note that while it's... something that sounds good, it doesn't always necessarily translate into savings at the pump for the consumer.

<Gavin> And I remember during that gas tax debate, Justin, that, you know, going on in 2016, 2017, all leading up to 2017, and there were a lot of concerns of that, you know, we wanted to keep our gas tax still lower than our neighbors too, and that's still the case, of course, but I'm just wondering, you know, what other funding streams do we look at when it comes to funding DOT?

Would we ever need to raise that gas tax again?

Or are we getting enough from other streams at this point that, that we're kind of meshing pretty well, I guess.

<Justin> So, I think what was important that 2017 roads bill did more than just the gas tax.

It increased the amount of car sales taxes coming to D.O.T., allocate some more DMV registration fees and created hybrid and electric fees that were really, really important for D.O.T.

during the pandemic, so when the pandemic hit most, there was a period of time where folks stayed home for an extended period of time, and we were tracking the traffic we saw on some at one point we were down 50% on traffic across the state, which meant fewer gallons of gas sold, which translated to less gas tax, that diversification in our revenue streams that we got as a result of it really helps D.O.T.

kind of stay the course through the pandemic.

So while people stopped driving, but what they were also doing was signing on to Carvana, or other websites and starting to buy cars, and so we saw that car sales tax increased and that really kept our program afloat, and so we were able to really keep construction moving through the pandemic, and to keep that moving on, where other states had to slow down as a result, and so we felt like we were keeping the pedal to the metal during that difficult time.

<Gavin> And, Justin, you're talking about the pandemic, and coming out of that... we saw a lot of relief bills come out of that, as a result, especially the American Rescue Plan Act, D.O.T.

through the legislature got approval for $453 million of that money, if I'm correct.

Tell us how that paired with, you know, the bipartisan infrastructure law we saw we saw last year, and additional funding from the federal government, how that's all kind of coming together right now to fuel these projects and move them up somewhat.

<Justin> Sure.

So there have been a variety of actions taken both in Congress as well as in the General Assembly.

So, when you're talking about the American Rescue Plan, I mentioned, the General Assembly allocated $453 million dollars to D.O.T., as well as $133 million of surplus funds that were in the budget this past year for one time projects, and we've really put that towards our rural interstate widening program.

So, about three, four years ago, D.O.T.

analyzed its traffic on rural corridors, particularly from truck traffic and freight traffic coming out of the Port of Charleston, and we had our commission approval list of several interstate corridors in the state that are really driven by freight and I-26 between Columbia, Charleston, and I-95, basically, from the Georgia border to exit 33 really rose to the top of the list.

So, we were starting to fold those projects into our plans and our project, project pipeline.

We had the discussion with the governor's office and the General Assembly back when the ARPA bill was being considered that there was really an opportunity for us to accelerate that those projects through that one time infusion, and so we were looking at completing the widening of 26, really, by getting that last phase under contract by 2035.

I-95.

Looking at that getting under contract by 2031.

Because of those investments from the General Assembly this past year, with the one time funds, as well as the ARPA front dollars coming into us, we've really been able to significantly accelerate that and really cut the timeline on I-26, getting that last phase under construction by 2029, and the last phase of construction on I-95 underway by 2028.

At the same time, we've also had the passage of the infrastructure investment and JOBS Act, and that really was a pretty significant increase in funding for D.O.T.

but also for broadband, for water and sewer, as well.

So, significant investment in infrastructure across the board, and that really meant an increase of about 200 million to $300 million dollars per year for D.O.T.

that require matching funds, and we were very grateful that the General Assembly provided us with an additional $120 million dollars per year for matching those new federal dollars as well as not only what was coming to South Carolina, but also gives us the opportunity to chase after grants and go after money that other states aren't using and put it to work here in South Carolina.

So the combination that and that really has allowed us to focus not only on dealing with the deferred maintenance of our system, but really trying to tackle the pressures of growth that we're having in urban and suburban South Carolina, but also the needs of economic development in rural South Carolina.

<Gavin> So Justin with less than a minute left, I want to ask you just how all this investment how all these projects.

I mean, we're talking about 26, you know, from Charleston, on down "Malfunction Junction" huge initiative infrastructure projects there.

How does that position us for the future when it comes to growth, both in population and commerce?

>> Well, I think it's really a positive news story for us, because I think, with the investments that are going on with the Port of Charleston right now, the deepening of Charleston Harbor, there's going to be significant opportunities, and we have to align the infrastructure to be ready to handle that growth.

So, I think as you see with I-26 and with the interstate, other interstate projects, we're going to be able to handle it, but I think we also have to look at those needs that we have in our urban communities and our rural communities, to make sure that they can deal with the pressures of congestion but also deal with the needs to connect all of our communities to the global economy, and so I think with this investment that we're seeing, we've nearly quadrupled the amount of work we have under contract since in the past 10 years, and I think that really just positioned South Carolina well for the future <Gavin> Gotcha.

So a lot to look forward to in the next 10-15 years, a lot of orange cones that will be out there.

So, we'll be watching.

We'll be keeping up with you all, And that's Justin Powell.

He's chief of staff at SC D.O.T.

Thanks so much for joining us.

<Justin> Thank you, Gavin.

Appreciate it.

<Gavin> To stay up to date throughout the week, check out the South Carolina Lede.

It's a podcast that I host twice a week on Tuesdays and Saturdays that you can find on South Carolina public radio.org your favorite podcast app and YouTube, where you can also find episodes of this week in South Carolina, and join us next week as we begin our debate series, Tuesday night at 8pm.

We're I'll moderate the 2022 Lieutenant Governor's debate between Republican incumbent Pamela Evette and Democratic challenger Tally Parham Casey.

ETV will also bring you the only governor's debate this year on October 26 and we conclude with the Superintendent of Education debate on November 2.

For more information on these debates, visit scetv.org.

For South Carolina ETV, I'm Gavin Jackson.

Be well, South Carolina.

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