Posted on 08/18/2019 12:52:07 PM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
Nothing says welcome to the third world quite like entering Jasper County, South Carolina on Interstate 95.
Traveling from Georgia, the highway narrows from six lanes to four lanes with rusty guardrails flanking the roadside. Trash is everywhere, greeting visiting motorists as they pass through a 1990s-era stucco display that might as well be the entrance to a drug kingpins barn or a trailer park.
Which is fitting.
Traffic grinds to a slow crawl, then proceeds in stop-and-go fashion for the next fifty miles.
Worst of all is the pavement which resembles an Afghan airstrip following a sustained bombing barrage. Seriously from Miami to the Savannah River, Interstate 95 is smooth sailing, but the moment you see that Welcome to South Carolina sign everything falls apart.
Including the alignment of your vehicle and your spine.
It is, quite simply, an embarrassment. Not unlike the tax-and-spend politicians responsible for it. A literal corridor of shame.
Now the leaders who have presided over the perpetual failure of this road (and its surrounding low-income fiefdoms) want to charge motorists for the privilege of traversing this third world thoroughfare which sits as an uneven, dangerous monument to politically motivated infrastructure prioritization.
Wait a minute didnt South Carolina Republicans just impose a massive new gasoline tax hike with the promise of fixing our roads? Yes, they did. But once again, they arent.
Sadly, this would be more of the failed Mo Money, Mo Problems approach to governing a.k.a. the only approach Palmetto State leaders seem to understand.
(Excerpt) Read more at fitsnews.com ...
LOL.
I take that hell to work at HHI from time to time.
It’s a rough road.
Tennessee is behind the curve as well. I-24, I-65 north of Nashvegas, and I-75 all need to be 6 lanes where they are 4 now. Chattanooga is just complete poo, with I-24 and I-75 often backed up for miles.
IIRC, about 75% of SC’s budget is spoken for: education, Medicaid, public sector salaries, pension, and bennies...
Road repair? Don’t hold yer breath.
Nonsense. I live off of exit 8 and drive I 95 north and south. It’s not that bad.
Try I 95 through VA, MD, NJ, NY and Ct and get back to me.
We had to drive it during our vacation a month ago, from Boston down to VA. Check that, I had to drive it. Had a tire blow out after hitting a pothole in Providence...as if my wife needed proof why I hate driving at night anymore.
Trump needs a "shovel ready" project? Rebuild I-95 and I-35 for starters. There's enough work there for thousands of construction workers in at least ten states. Might add at least a full point to GDP for a couple of years.
I have fond memories of driving on the autobahn in Germany, loved driving on great roads in excess of 100 MPH. Driving in the States is another story.
If they sold off the highway to a private company and let them toll it at whatever rates they choose, I can promise you that the traffic jams would end and the road wouldn’t even need to be widened!
...but I can’t promise you that you’ll be happy with that outcome, unless you’re rich.
Last week 17 cars were damaged by a pot hole on I-40 in Sequoyah County, Oklahoma. Damage to most vehicles was so bad they had to be towed away.
SC sounds just about the same as Oklahoma. I don’t know how they set their priorities. I do know the roads in this country are mostly falling apart on every level. Talk and raise taxes are all I see getting done.
Like SC, when you cross the state line into Oklahoma it is like entering one long speed bump. The sign at the state line says “Discover the excellence.” When we see that we say, “Good luck.” Pathetic.
The only slight consolation is to know we are not alone here. I can say the very same thing for roads in Illinois and Indiana from my trip there last spring.
It is amazing how well Missouri does with all their roads including county roads. Even Arkansas does a reasonable job with their roads. Texas is like entering a new world. When you cross the Red River everything is better. Don’t states ever look around and benchmark their performance against best in class and then do something about their own pitiful performance?
And to think, SC is very slowly turning Purple, as more and more northern Democrats move down to the coast and the hipsters move to Greeneville.
All of Tennessee except maybe 81 north of Greenville need to be six lane rural
Even 840 is crowded daylight hours now
Truckers, particularly flatbedders, loath SC I-95. If a load is going to be lost on a highway, it will be there. KY I-75 is also high on the list.
“All of Tennessee except maybe 81 north of Greenville need to be six lane rural
Even 840 is crowded daylight hours now”
That’s what happens when you’ve been colonized by carpetbaggers and the third world.
“Welcome to Illinois, our roads suck, but our tolls are high”.
Just returned from a road trip to Kentucky. Worst road on the entire trip, was I39 up to and past Chicago. Also, the only toll road on the entire trip.
I occasionally drive from S.E. MO to Atlanta to see family. I am always amazed at Nashville’s and Chattanooga’s traffic. One or the other is always backed updoesn’t matter what day of the week it isone or both will be slow moving.
If anything Chattanooga is the worse of the two. Very slow going from east to west. Expecting a wreck or road construction or something, and then traffic seems to vanish.
But to the point of the story, you often notice a big difference in road conditions when you leave one state and enter another. One reason might be that Georgia is a more prosperous state than South Carolina and has more money to spend on its roads.
I remember pulling into South of the Border as a poor kid. Even then, through the eyes of a poor preteen, it was clearly a dump.
Drove by it for the first time in decades last month on my way to Parris Island to pick up my new Marine. It was nearly empty of cars. It should be bulldozed.
I too get mad when my government fixes someone elses problem before they fix mine.
Has it improved any ?
Hey Pedro ! South of the Border ! 24 miles !
Last I knew, Georgia was getting twice the federal aid that SC gets.
If still the case, that might have something to do with the better road conditions.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.