With a proposed $6.9 billion state spending plan out of the way, the S.C. House of Representatives plans to tackle a new road plan for the Palmetto State after the Easter break, Speaker Jay Lucas said Tuesday at the fifth annual TDL Summit in Columbia.

Coming up with a funding remedy for the state’s roads, which the S.C. Department of Transportation estimates are running about $1.5 billion short of cash annually, is an “astronomically huge problem,” said Lucas, R-Hartsville.

Speaking to a roomful of 200 executives from transportation, distribution and logistics companies at the Columbia Metropolitan Convention Center, Lucas said the House will be out of session for a couple of furlough weeks, before and after Easter, before it deals with the roads issue.

On its agenda is the need to sort through bills, including one measure crafted by an ad hoc panel Lucas appointed, and at the same time work with Gov. Nikki Haley’s proposal to raise the gas tax up to 10 cents a gallon in exchange for trimming the state income tax.

Bills in the House aim to raise an additional $400 million a year to fix and maintain South Carolina’s transportation infrastructure.

South Carolina simply has too many miles of roads to take care of, Lucas said.

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