Gas Tax Debate Spills Over Into U.S. Senate Race

Just to show you how little “Dr. Annie” knows about this issue, Farmers and Shrimpers use off road diesel (red dye diesel) and don’t pay the federal excise tax so their average is about $5.79. Won’t argue that “the taxes are to dam high!”, but how do we pay for the estimated $1,000,000,000,000 in highway infrastructure repairs that we KNOW are needed right now if we lower taxes?

Here’s the REAL issue – we keep spending money on stupid stuff and not asphalt or concrete. Road diets and traffic calming, intended to slow traffic and make the flow more efficient just make it worse and DECREASE rather than increase pedestrian safety. “Vision Zero” a “Bootygeg” policy, designed to increase pedestrian safety and encourage walking that did neither. CMAQ and TAP were funded as “highway projects” but neither paved a foot of roadway and instead wasted something like $20,000,000,000.

Locally, we’ve corrected some of the BS (like canceling the 526 extension to James Island (and Will’s favorite project the beach highway) but I-95 is a national disgrace, 4 lanes for what is legitimately the life blood artery of the east coast?!? Oh wait, get to Georgia and Florida and it becomes 6 lanes or more of smooth, well-marked pavement… I-85 through G-Vegas and Sparkle City is still some of the most dangerous highway miles in the US. despite untold money and time spent “fixing it”.

The best run state in the country (with the world’s whatever largest economy), California is estimated to have diverted 30 percent ($22,400,000,000) of Highway Trust Fund spending from core roads and bridges toward alternative programs like bike lanes and buses that do nothing to relieve traffic travel times, pollution or safety.