Deadly rural roads in dire need of funding, transportation boss says
COLUMBIA — South Carolina's top transportation official said Wednesday there is an urgent need to improve thousands of miles of highways in rural areas where the link between conditions and the death toll is hard to deny.
Department of Transportation Secretary Christy Hall said more than 6,800 fatality and injury-producing accidents have been reported on rural roads in the past five years.
Hall told lawmakers on hand for a DOT needs meeting that the agency would be investing in a "rural roads safety program," calling the initiative her agency's top priority in the coming years.
"Nearly 30 percent of our fatality and serious injury accidents are occurring on just over 5 percent of our roadways," Hall said. "We believe it's time for us to target the worst of the worst. We want to target that 5 percent."
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