FOCUS, Smith: Pandemic lesson: Time to stop the asphalt gravy train

By Charlie Smith, special to Charleston Currents  | When the coronavirus quarantine is over, let’s be sure to remember one of the most important lessons that we have learned: Let’s remember what it was like living in Charleston without traffic. 

The lesson we should learn from this experience is that it’s time to stop building bigger and bigger roads that only invite more and more cars and trucks that divide our community and diminish the health and well-being of our citizens. 

Smith

It’s time to tell our General Assembly and our county and city governments that equitable mobility is what the public is entitled to, not just more asphalt. Tell them that it’s time to break up the S.C. Department of Transportation (SCDOT) and create an agency that can focus on mass transit, inter-city rail, “Complete Streets” and multi-modal transit for all citizens, not just on more wasteful inefficient projects for the benefit of road contractors.