摘要: |
The primary objective of this study was to assess the impact of temporal delays to SCDOT road projects caused by legal challenges brought by individuals and external entities with environmental-based concerns. Specifically, the focus was to assess the use of the automatic stay provision along with the associated contested case in the Administrative Law Court, a state-specific judicial court in South Carolina. Relevant project material was reviewed and interviews conducted with appropriate personnel to assess the impact of challenges to four SCDOT projects. One involved a delay associated with challenges to the SCDHEC issuance of a Section 401 Water Quality Certification permit, two projects were delayed due to USACE issues, and one SCDOT project which did not experience delays. A fifth project in South Carolina was included that was county-based, and which did experience a delay involving the ALC court. Of the 13 SASHTO states contacted for this study, only eight had automatic stays within statutes that were not associated with Bankruptcy Court. Three states provided information to review, four states responded that they did not have any relevant projects for the study, and five states did not respond to requests for material; of these five, two were included in the study based on external resource review for the projects. The majority of the SASHTO project delays occurred in federal court; one state (North Carolina) had a delay equivalent to the ALC automatic stay in South Carolina. |