People who use Dempsey Road, Morningside Drive, Pops Drive and Twin Lakes Drive might feel as if they've just won the lottery.

The Orangeburg County Transportation Committee on Thursday recommended that the South Carolina Department of Transportation spend state gasoline tax revenues to pave those roads.

Only a 0.3-mile portion of Dempsey Road was recommended for paving because some property owners further down the road have not yet provided easements.

But that will be enough to provide relief for Master Molders, an industry whose employees' vehicles have gotten stuck in mud on their way to and from work.

Dempsey Road (OC 1124) is off U.S. Highway 301 south of Orangeburg.

Morningside Drive (OC 1654) is a 0.6-mile road off U.S. Highway 601 north of Orangeburg.

Pops Drive (OC 2325) is a 0.4-mile road off Beason Road.

Twin Lakes Drive (OC 2169) is a 0.7-mile road off Wisp Road in the Middle Willow community.

That adds up to about 1.9 miles. Orangeburg County gets enough money from the state "C" fund to pave about four miles of dirt roads each year.

The relative lack of resources makes it tough for the committee, which has 130 petitions on file, including 17 new requests that came in after recent heavy rains, said Chairman Henry R. Caughman Jr.

Each request is considered in light of numerous factors, including but not limited to the condition of the road and its maintenance cost, whether it's a mail route and/or a school bus route, the number of residences and businesses and the potential to benefit a significant number of people, he said.

Requests often languish for years, and even after a particular road is recommended for paving, it can take a year or longer to get the job done.

A lot of people pitching their cases for the paving of various roads make the point that they pay taxes and ought to see some benefit from that, Caughman said.

But the committee has no jurisdiction over most of the taxes people pay: income, property, sales and so forth. They deal only with "C" funds -- a tax of 2.66 cents per gallon of gasoline sold in the state. And $25 out of every $100 has to be spent resurfacing existing paved state roads.

At that rate, it takes a while to raise $350,000 -- roughly the cost of grading and paving one mile of roadway to state specifications.

One citizen at Thursday's meeting said she wasn't necessarily asking for an elaborate job. Just spreading some tar on the road would help a lot, she said.

The state isn't allowed to do that with "C" funds, but the county recently got into the road paving business and can apply a hard surface suitable for less heavily traveled roads for about half the cost.

Therefore, the CTC frequently advises citizens to take their road improvement requests to the Orangeburg County Council.

The committee's next meeting will be at 10 a.m. Thursday, Jan. 15, 2004.

T&D Staff Writer Lee Hendren can be reached by e-mail at lhendren@timesanddemocrat.com or by phone at 803-533-5552.

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