SCDOT HEAD Robert St. Onge wants SC residents to pay for the entrences to their own driveways.
/ FILE
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) -- The director of South Carolina's transportation department says residents should be paving their own driveways.
Transportation Secretary Robert St. Onge told a House panel Thursday it's unfair for some residents to get a free driveway courtesy of the state budget.
State law requires his agency to install, maintain and remove the entrances of residents' driveways within the public right-of-way of state roads.
St. Onge wants legislators to suspend that law in the coming state budget. He says that's $6 million that could be spent on major roadways.
But legislators say providing residents with adequate access from their property to state roads is a necessary service. The state does not pay for driveway work on private land or leading to commercial property. The service can include culvert work for drainage.
(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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