South Carolina Department of Transportation

By state law, the SCDOT's function and purpose is the systematic planning, construction, maintenance, and operation of the state highway system and the development of a statewide mass transit system that is consistent with the needs and desires of the public. The SCDOT also coordinates all state and federal programs relating to highways. The goal of the SCDOT is to provide adequate, safe, and efficient transportation services for the movement of people and goods.

History

The South Carolina state transportation system originated in the late 1890s after the South Carolina Good Roads Association (SCGRA) was formed. The SCGRA, which was backed by local businessmen and railroads, often had state officials including the governor, attend its biannual meetings. It first promoted the construction of stone farm-to-market roads and by the 1920s pivoted to promoting the construction of hard-surfaced interstate and instrastate highways. The association also promoted the creation of a state highway commission and department.

Spurred on by the Federal Aid Road Act of 1916, which provided $75 million of federal money in 50–50 matching funds to the states to build up to 6% of their roads statewide over a five-year period, the General Assembly created the five-member State Highway Commission in 1917 which existed for more than seventy years. Prior to the Commission's creation, county governments were entirely responsible for building and maintaining roads.

In the 1920s, several key changes to transportation in South Carolina occurred. First, in 1922, federal highways were first constructed in the state (the first federal interstate highway in South Carolina, I-85, would not be completed until 1965). Then, in 1924, Governor Thomas G. McLeod signed the Pay-As-You-Go Highway Act, which created the state highway system. The General Reimbursement Act, passed in 1926, "authorized counties to issue bonds for highway construction" and the 1929 State Highway Bond Act "enabled the highway department to fund construction of a statewide highway system by issuing bonds, allowing the agency to abandon its pay-as-you-go formula."

Nonetheless, the State Highway Commission lacked "the authority to designate roads to be improved with federal funds and the power to supervise directly the work being done". Instead the state legislature had that authority, which resulted in a proliferation of roads in the state meant to create economic development in each legislator's district.

On May 13, 1977, an act of the South Carolina General Assembly reformed the state's transportation agency by creating the Department of Highways and Public Transportation (SCDHPT). The SCDHPT itself was later split into two separate organizations in 1993: the SCDOT and the Department of Public Safety.

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Organization

The SCDOT is a department of the state government in the executive branch that reports to a cabinet secretary and a nine-member commission. Unlike most state aeronautics agencies in the Southeastern United States, the South Carolina Aeronautics Commission is not a division within the SCDOT.

Commission and Secretary

The Governor appoints all of the commissioners, with seven of the commissioners representing each of South Carolina's U.S. Congressional districts and two of the commissioners being at-large. The two at-large commissioners must be confirmed by both houses of the state General Assembly.

The current transportation secretary is Christy A. Hall. The secretary hires the division heads, who are known as Deputy Secretaries.

Divisions of the SCDOT

The SCDOT has six divisions: Engineering, Intermodal Planning, Finance and Procurement, Legal, Human Resources, and Minority & Small Business Affairs.

The SCDOT is a centralized government agency. Planning, design, procurement, finance, and human resource functions all operate from the central office, or headquarters, in the state capitol of Columbia. The headquarters building is named for Silas N. Pearman, a former state highway engineer and chief commissioner of the agency.

Intermodal Planning Division

The Intermodal Planning Division comprises the Department of Planning and the Office of Public Transit. The latter oversees and supports the development of a mass transit system and administers the state and federal aid mass transit program.

Engineering Division

The Engineering division is the largest part of the agency. The Deputy Secretary for this division is traditionally known as the State Highway Engineer. The current Deputy Secretary is Leland Colvin.

Finance and Procurement Division

The Division of Finance and Procurement is responsible for the federal aid reimbursements and other financial matters of the agency.

Engineering Districts

The SCDOT field offices are divided into seven districts headed by a District Engineering Administrator. The engineering district lines do not follow the same lines as the commission districts. Each District has responsibility for the maintenance, construction, traffic, and equipment (mechanical) operations within its boundaries. A district will oversee six to eight counties.

District offices are located in Columbia (District #1), Greenwood (#2), Greenville (#3), Chester, (#4), Florence (#5), Charleston (#6), Orangeburg (#7).

2016 arrests

In the summer of 2016, three former SCDOT employees were indicted by a grand jury on allegations that included, among other things, corruption and/or theft of agency property.

First, Charles W. Shirley, a former field operations manager for SCDOT, was charged with criminal conspiracy and official misconduct in office as well as eight other counts. The indictment alleged that while Shipley worked at SCDOT, "he maintained secret ownership in a company that was doing work for his own division at SCDOT, and that he participated in awarding the work to his company and then supervised that work."

Second, the former head of SCDOT’s traffic signal shop in District 1, Curtis C. Singleton, was charged with ten counts. The indictment alleged he "demanded and received cash bribes and kickbacks from contractors whose work he supervised and assigned."

Finally, a former SCDOT inspector, Joe Edward Butler, was indicted on eight counts. It was alleged in the indictment that Butler sold agency equipment to contractors and kept the money for himself and "received kickbacks and other financial benefits."

Shirley, who faced up to forty-six years in prison, died in September 2016, less than a month after he was charged with an additional four counts. In March 2017, Singleton pled guilty to seven counts, and Butler pled guilty to five.