Smart Growth America recently released their report, and our state is the third most deadly in the country for pedestrians.
Soon after starting work as our Executive Director Jasmine Vanadore attended a webinar where the Smart Growth America team presented some compelling stories about how our roads have been designed only to move motor vehicles as fast as possible with no regard for the safety of the typically underserved people who must cross these roads.
Jasmine decided to prepare a commentary on the subject that was submitted to our largest print media outlet in South Carolina, The Post and Courier and published in the July 3, 2024 print edition:
SCDOT Funding Priorities
The state of South Carolina owns and manintains 41,000 miles of roads, including all the Dangerous by Design Roads like White Horse Road.
A look at a 2023 budget provides this high level information:
The below slide from SCDOT from 2021 was emphasizing the increase in spending for safety improvements. Note the $10,000,000 for Pedestrian and Bicycle Safety Projects.
On Friday June 28, 2024 WSPA News 7 did a segment about the Dangerous by Design report on the 5:30 PM News including an interview with Smart Growth America spokesperson. Unfortunately WSPA did not post the segment on their website, but they did ask SCDOT about funding, and this was their response:
Thus SCDOT seems to think that $10 million out of a $1.105 Billion budget, or less than 1/10 of 1 percent (0.00904) of total spending is sufficient to address pedestrian safety!