Business owners encouraged to take SCDOT survey

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The S.C. Department of Transportation wants to hear from business owners and citizens statewide about their needs and priorities through the department’s online Multimodal Transportation Survey.

“The multimodal plan identifies South Carolina’s statewide transportation needs, sets investment priorities for a period of at least 20 years and establishes goals and objectives for addressing transportation needs throughout the state,” said Brent Rewis, SCDOT director of planning. “We’re looking to see how folks are traveling back and forth to work, as well as any input they have as far as freight and rail throughout the state.”

The SCDOT is seeking input on all modes of transportation involving the state’s roads and bridges, including vehicle, pedestrian, mass transit, bicycling, freight rail and passenger rail.

“We’re asking folks, ‘Do you want new roads for capacity, or do you want us to improve the existing roads in the state?’ ” Rewis said. “We’re looking for input as far as what we do with funding in the future on our roadways and in our system.”

Rick Todd, president and CEO of the S.C. Trucking Association, said demands vary from one transportation business to another.

“Some use the interstates exclusively, some use farm-to-market roads and others do short-haul local,” Todd said. “Some do long haul, so it really depends on where they’re running their trucks and how bad the traffic is and how they view the road conditions.”

Todd said business owners want to operate their vehicles efficiently at safe speeds as much as possible while avoiding being stuck in traffic. He said road conditions are crucial to achieving those goals.

“That means make sure they’re relatively pothole-free, that their visibility is good, lighting is good,” he said. “Paint, retroreflective striping, signage — all that’s good, especially when it’s dark or rainy. And you want adequate shoulders and recovery room, which the DOT is trying to do with the rural road safety program.”

The trucking association has encouraged its members to take the survey, promoting it in recent newsletters.

Rewis said he’s been pleasantly surprised at the survey response so far. Depending on the amount of input one wants to provide, he said the survey can take as little as five minutes. 

The survey will be open until the end of the month. Click here for more information.