south carolina Flooding devastates shoddy infrastructure

Associated Press

COLUMBIA, S.C.

Long before the historic floods of the past week, crumbling roads, bridges and dams and aging drinking water systems plagued South Carolina – a poor state that didn’t spend much on them in the first place and has been loath to raise taxes for upkeep.

Now the state faces hundreds of millions if not billions of dollars’ worth of additional bills to fix or replace key pieces of its devastated infrastructure.

As the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy and other disasters shows, the federal government will cover much of the costs, but isn’t going to pay for all of it.

“You’re not going to have people down there tomorrow giving out money,” said Gerry Galloway, a civil- engineering professor at the University of Maryland.

It will take weeks or months to document the full extent of the damage, and to find out how much federal aid is coming South Carolina’s way. That aid likely will come with requirements that bridges and dams be built to stronger, more expensive standards.

So the Republican-controlled state’s leaders – who recently shot down a business-backed effort to get an extra $400 million a year for roads by raising some taxes and lowering others – likely will have to grit their teeth and come up with matching funds.

In the meantime, barricades will be blocking commutes for a long while.

Workers have fanned out across the state looking at bridges, but right now it is mostly just informal inspections to see if it is obvious that a bridge or road should be shut down.

South Carolina Department of Transportation worker Radames Zambrana was at a bridge Wednesday where floodwaters washed out the support underneath. He was getting ready to request big barricades be put up instead of the small traffic cones to make sure no one drove on the intact pavement, supported by almost nothing.

“I’m seeing this everywhere,” Zambrana said, pointing at the gaping hole under the bridge where soil was washed away.

About 260 roads and 150 bridges remained closed Wednesday, many of them washed out, according to the Transportation Department.