OUR VIEW: Roads deserve our attention

• OUR VIEW

OUR VIEW

Talk about it

State Sen. Mike Vehle wants the state Legislature to address South Dakota’s decaying roads, but his many pleas have fallen on deaf ears.

Why?

Probably because Gov. Dennis Daugaard has pledged to not institute new taxes during his first term as governor. That’s a noble plan by the governor, and we say that without any hint of sarcasm. But the truth is that c

During a legislative cracker barrel session Saturday at Mitchell Technical Institute, Vehle again discussed the condition of South Dakota’s rural roadways. He has wanted to institute a gas tax increase, using the proceeds to address the state’s worst roads, but he has run into roadblocks since he began discussing the idea in 2010.

He told attendees at Saturday’s cracker barrel that 1 percent of the state’s roads are in poor shape today, and that the number will turn into about 17 percent in a decade.

That figure of 1 percent seems terribly low. A drive in the countryside in Davison County seems to indicate that more than 1 percent of the state’s roads are in disrepair.

Either way, we feel that renovation of rural roads is important, not only because of the volume of agri-business that is conducted on them but also because of safety issues.

We hope Vehle keeps up the fight. We also hope his argument is not only heard, but eventually considered.

Tags: opinion, updates, editorials, legislature, roads, highways, budget, state, transportation