Where the next York County road improvements are coming, and when they’ll be done.
It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas. Which could be good for York County roads.
County leaders estimate it’ll be December when they open not presents, but bid proposals for several more major road projects. Unsealing those bids makes for a major step in putting a contractor in place and getting pavement on the ground. It also means the county will know how much the roads will cost.
Bids are expected to be picked by the end of the year for these road projects: The I-77 and Gold Hill Road interchange, U.S. 321 and Barrett Connector Road just outside downtown Clover, S.C. 160 West from Zoar Road to the North Carolina line and 19 miles of resurfacing work.
Construction on the Barrett Connector would start next spring. Work on S.C. 160 West project could begin, too, depending on finalizing right-of-way.
“There’s one more outstanding property that we’re dealing with,” said Patrick Hamilton, director of Pennies for Progress, the county’s one-cent sales tax program for road work. “Trying to finalize that in the next month or so.”
The I-77 and Gold Hill interchange was set to have the bids unsealed in November, but now December is the estimate.
“All of the right-of-way is acquired,” Hamilton said. “All the utility agreements are in place. This is just a matter of fine tuning one final issue with the state regarding the bridge plans. Which we hope we are at the finish line with that.”
A bid opened Aug. 14 for work on Anderson and Cowan Farm roads in Rock Hill. Bids came in about $500,000 less than the engineer’s estimate.
“We should actually be getting some money back on that project,” Hamilton said.
Cherry Road, “one of the larger” resurfacing jobs in the latest Pennies campaign, to come with pedestrian improvements from a 2011 Pennies voter approval, should have bids unsealed in January. The project will wrap up “hopefully next spring and summer,” Hamilton said.
The pedestrian improvements cover may be the most traveled section of Cherry Road for walkers, also in Rock Hill.
“It runs from basically Winthrop (University) up to Cherry Park,” Hamilton said.
Several more projects are ongoing now.
Expected to be completed this fall are Cel-River Road in Rock Hill (end of August), the Poe/Quantz roads railroad crossing (September) and Hwy. 97 in the York area (November).
Work on McConnells Highway should wrap up next spring. The $14.8 million widening to three lanes stretches from S.C. 901 to Falls Road. Clearing is going on at S.C. 274 and Pole Branch Road in Lake Wylie, but construction isn’t yet close to completion.
“That’ll be a good two years out or so,” Hamilton said.
Pennies staff also looked at a potential realignment for work on S.C. 557 near Riddle Mill Road, but found the initial $5.6 million plan would be considerably less than moving the route now.
York County voters in 2017 passed the fourth referendum to charge a cent sales tax for roads. County leaders have been working to get projects done quicker, and thus cheaper. The tax from the third Pennies vote, in 2011, ended April 30. The fourth Pennies tax began a day later.
The county is still working with the state department of revenue on final figures, but expects the seven years of revenue from Pennies 3 to come in above what was estimated and budgeted at $170 million.
“They will be higher than that $170 million,” Hamilton said. “We haven’t finalized the exact amount yet.”
Through mid-August, there were four continuing projects from the 2003 Pennies campaign at a combined $61.4 million. The referendum budget was $173 million. Actual revenue was $184 million, and more than $135 million has been spent.
The 2011 Pennies vote budgeted $161 million. The expectation now is money will come in at more than $170 million. Almost $68 million has been spent so far.
The projected revenue and budget from the 2017 Pennies vote is almost $278 million.
This story was originally published August 24, 2018 at 8:16 AM.