Our view: State's I-95 response remains unacceptable
Death has again come to Interstate 95 in the Hardeeville area. And again it should burn the conscience of the state Department of Transportation.
The state continues to allow dangerous conditions to exist on this heavily traveled interstate.
The state talked about doing something, which we saw as progress. But in reality, the only action the public can see is yet another tragic wreck.
Sharon Toomer of Ridgeland died Wednesday morning on her way to work in the cafeteria at Hardeeville Elementary School. She lost control of her vehicle in the predawn hours, ran off the road and collided with a tree. The coroner said she died at the scene, southbound near mile marker 15. She was only 52.
At least 18 people have died on I-95 in Jasper County from tree-related crashes over the past six years.
That is way too many.
The trees are too close to the highway. The state can and must do something about it.
None of this is a surprise. The percentage of tree-related fatalities in Jasper County is way out of kilter. A study last year by this newspaper showed that roughly 36 percent of all tree-related fatalities in the state happened in Jasper County, even though the county's 35-mile stretch of I-95 makes up less than 18 percent of the interstate's footprint in South Carolina.
We found that the state didn't even know how close the trees were to the highway.
But laymen can ride by and see things like a fallen tree so close to the interstate that it lands on the shoulder.
Motorists have no chance to recover when something goes wrong. There are no safety measures to keep vehicles from slamming into trees.
It is irresponsible for the state to do such a poor job of maintaining and improving conditions along I-95. The state is not investing its transportation dollars wisely. It is building roads to nowhere for powerful politicians while hundreds of thousands of travelers on I-95 suffer.
We do not know the specifics of the wreck that claimed the life of Sharon Toomer, a pleasant person known as a hard worker. But we do know that not enough is being done in a timely manner to rectify the "coffin corridor" that is I-95 in Jasper County.
More consciences need to be burning.
This story was originally published February 4, 2016 at 7:27 PM with the headline "Our view: State's I-95 response remains unacceptable."