Pavement Plans

Historically it was the responsibility of the County of Charleston to pave/preserve local roads throughout the whole County using state gas tax dollars distributed through the CTC (Charleston Transportation Committee). Also, in 2006 the County began using a portion of the ½ cent sales tax dollars to supplement the local paving effort known as the Transportation Sales Tax Program (TST).  However, with the combination of gas tax and the ½ cent sales tax dollars, there is still not enough money available to maintain the local roads throughout the County and particularly the Town.    

Town Council and Town staff has long recognized the effort of maintaining our aging infrastructure was falling behind. In 2012, the Transportation Department was tasked to develop an infrastructure management plan to address pavement needs. Transportation staff developed a Pavement Preservation Management Program to evaluate and address the pavement needs using a pavement preservation software program. This software program does not make final determinations, but provides the basis for quantitative, consistent, cost-effective decisions by use of a Pavement Quality Index (PQI). By evaluating PQI values and understanding specific deficiencies for pavement sections, a variety of treatment types can be recommended to extend life expectancy of a pavement section. 

The Transportation Department’s staff is excited that Town Council is funding infrastructure rehabilitation that just did not happen several years ago when we had to rely on the State or County to fund projects. Bottom line, we’ve built up a huge backlog of deferred maintenance and it will take a long time for us to systematically address it in the most financially responsible way.

Please visit the Charleston CountyTransportation’s website to view the CTC and TST projects that are under construction and completed.