Ninety years ago this month, S.C. Gov. Olin D. Johnston launched what was almost certainly the most dramatic Highway Department reform initiative in South Carolina’s history when he ordered a company of machine-gun-wielding National Guardsmen to march on the agency and seize it by force.
This year, S.C. House Speaker Murrell Smith, R-Sumter, appears to be taking a more traditional approach to the Palmetto State’s age-old problem with roads. In May, he appointed a bipartisan committee to work on a plan to modernize the S.C. Department of Transportation (SCDOT) and its $2.76 billion annual budget.
“This committee will take a comprehensive look at how SCDOT can better serve the needs of our citizens — today and in the future,” Smith said in a release. “From innovation and technology to organizational structure and long-term planning, no idea is off the table.”…