There
have been many accomplishments at SCDOT since Governor Sanford appointed Buck
Limehouse as the first Secretary of Transportation in May of 2007. In 2006, the Legislative Audit Council
found that SCDOT had mismanaged millions of dollars, employee morale was at its
lowest, there was favoritism in the selection of consultants, and many other
findings that created a general distrust of SCDOT among the public and members
of the General Assembly. The Governor instructed Secretary Limehouse to run the
agency as a business, being mindful that every dollar spent belongs to the
taxpayer and decisions should reflect efficiency and transparency.
Since then, SCDOT
has implemented a number of successful reforms and programs that, taken
together, represent a vastly improved use of taxpayer dollars.
Cost Savings
The Secretary of Transportation
implemented several policies and initiatives designed to produce cost savings
(2007 to present) of nearly $200M:
o Reduction in
Interstate Mowing Cycles (eliminated in Summers of 09/10) - $2.6M
o Transfer of South
Island Ferry ($500K annually beginning in 2009) - $1M
o Elimination of
Staff Positions in Secretary of Transportation's Office ($32K annually since
FY07) - $96K
o Elimination of
Washington Consultants ($265K annually since FY07) - $795K
o Reduction of
Management Fees on CIP Toll Contract ($612K annually since FY07) - $1.8M
o Reduction in Travel
- $500K (since FY07)
o Consolidation of
Cell Phone Contracts ($41.4K annually since FY08) - $124K
o Reduction in
Outside Consultants (since FY05) - $28M
o Reduction in
Outside Legal Counsel (since FY05) - $485K
o Use of Value
Engineering (since FY08) - $74.5M
o Administrative
Budget Cuts Shifted to Maintenance (FY09) - $18.7M
o Project Cost
Savings on I-385 Project (FY11) - $34M
o Refunding/Refinancing
of Bonds - (FY10) - $31M
o A hiring freeze was
implemented in May 2010 that has produced 318 vacancies (total vacancies are
620); duties of those leaving the agency have been dispersed among existing
employees (no cost savings estimated yet)
“Fix it First”/Project
Prioritization
·
Strategy shifted from
new construction to the maintenance of the existing 42,000 mile highway system
in all regions of the state.
·
Established objective
engineering criteria to rank and prioritize project selection.
·
Political influence was
removed from the process.
Employee Morale
·
Eliminated employee
favoritism in job selection & pay increases.
·
Established “open door”
policy.
Outdoor Advertising/SC
Logos Program
·
Increased vegetation
maintenance fees from $200 per board in 2007 to $400 per board in 2010,
recognizing an increase of $245,000 in revenues.
·
Issued a lower number
of permits for ODA, going from 1,444 permits issued in 2007 to 1,229 in 2010.
·
Secured legislation to
allow for ODA pilot program to allow outdoor advertisers to upgrade one
non-conforming billboard in exchange for the removal of two or more
non-conforming billboards.
·
SC Logos program
generates one of the highest revenue streams of any state logo program in the
USA – approximately 3.2M annually.
I-385 Laurens County
·
Innovative schedule
closed 13.5 miles of north bound lanes completely using local detours
·
Construction schedule
was reduced to eight months.
·
Normal schedule
required three years of construction & congestion.
·
Compressed schedule
saved $34 million & applied to Upstate projects.
·
I-385 Laurens now meets
interstate standards
·
Concrete resurfacing is
maintenance free for 20 years.
·
Project completed two
weeks early and on budget.
US 17 Ace Basin Trees
·
November 2007 –
Governor Sanford initiates effort to preserve maximum number of trees.
·
SCDOT announces
redesign of US 17 Beaufort County widening project.
·
Redesign preserves 30
trees including 23 oak trees near the Combahee River.
·
The scenic canopy on US
17 Beaufort is preserved.