York County’s Pennies for Progress site updated; no more ‘long paragraphs’

With just a few clicks, York County residents can find out the costs, status and impact of each Pennies for Progress road fix.

York County announced Thursday the redesign of its Pennies for Progress website at penniesforprogress.net, which details about $700 million worth of road projects dating back 20 years.

It also allows users to check out interactive maps of new road initiatives detailed in the proposed $278 million Pennies 4 project, which voters will decide whether to approve Nov. 7.

While the old website relied on long paragraphs of text, Pennies director Patrick Hamilton said the new website is more user-friendly.

“People like short sentences and bullet points and pictures,” he said. “Hopefully, it’ll be a little easier for people to navigate it. Before, it was long paragraphs of text.”

The website also is mobile-friendly, and can be read on a tablet or smartphone.

The site features two interactive GIS maps where residents can locate Pennies projects to find out information about each site plan.

The most recent phase of Pennies for Progress is the largest and most expensive roads-fix plan ever proposed in York County. It has the potential to create nearly $300 million in infrastructure improvements that would impact citizens from Rock Hill and Fort Mill in eastern York County to Sharon in western York County.

Voters will decide whether to extend Pennies into its third decade. The plan raises money by levying a 1-percent county tax on certain goods and services.

Anyone purchasing goods in York County helps fund the road work, which means a significant portion of the money comes from visitors.

State law requires money raised by Pennies for Progress be used only for York County roads, and each project must be identified in advance.

This story was originally published August 11, 2017 at 9:02 AM with the headline "York County’s Pennies for Progress site updated; no more ‘long paragraphs’."