Should Carowinds fix the roads? SC House candidate from Fort Mill wonders on Twitter

Traffic in the Fort Mill area isn’t quite a roller coaster. But one candidate for state office wonders, in a social media post, whether it ought to be.

John Kraljevich from Fort Mill, the Democratic candidate for S.C. House Dist. 26, posed the question on Twitter. He asked whether Carowinds should be in charge of updating roads and bridges in South Carolina.

The tweet came as Carowinds announced plans for its newest roller coaster, set to open in 2019, Copperhead Strike.

Kraljevich reasoned that Carowinds has been so efficient at adding thrill rides in recent years, that perhaps the theme park should handle roads that have been “overburdened by traffic for a decade now.”

In response to a tweet from another user, that his idea is a “different kind of policy suggestion,” Kraljevich said the area is “due for some outside of the box thinking.”

He said the line for the tallest Carowinds coaster, Fury 325, moves “a whole heck of a lot faster” than some busy Fort Mill roads at rush hour.

While it isn’t likely Carowinds actually is going to overtake community-wide road maintenance, Kraljevich said he sees roads as a key issue in the November election, in which he faces incumbent Republican Raye Felder, also of Fort Mill.

“It’s a huge issue,” he said Friday morning. “I think for the vast majority of people that say they’re into politics or not, or follow politics or not, they can sure see brake lights. And they see there’s a lot more of them than there used to be.”

Kraljevich said road congestion is a mix of issues, from how roads are built and maintained to how homes and businesses are approved and built.

He said he drives daily from Baxter to the post office in Fort Mill, which used to take eight minutes, now can take 20 or more.

Kraljevich said he believes traffic woes can be a big enough issue to swing an election.

“For everyone, they wonder what’s the deal?” he said. “People are just tired of lip service.”

Felder agrees with her opponent that roads, and infrastructure overall, is a key issue in the coming election.

“It’s the No. 1 issue,” Felder said. “Especially with all the of the growth that we have.”

Felder points to state efforts to fix traffic issues.

“We have been actively engaged in trying to eliminate the problems,” she said. “There is a tremendous effort to keep the (transportation department) and the selection of projects not political, but more looking at what is the analytically correct order of priorities for safety in our state.”

Last year the state gas tax increased for the first time in three decades. The state set out on a 10-year plan to revamp how road projects are evaluated, picked for construction and built. Road investment tripled, to about $3 billion.

The South Carolina Department of Transportation website lists county-by-county projects, including many funded by the new tax revenue.

“We are all very well aware in the legislature that this is a pressing priority still,” Felder said. “There is a long way to go.”

Especially in Fort Mill, Tega Cay, Lake Wylie, Indian Land — all high growth areas. On the same day Carowinds announced Copperhead Strike, Gov. Henry McMaster and other elected leaders were in Fort Mill to tout the groundbreaking of a $34 million headquarters of a Charlotte mortgaging service company at the former Charlotte Knights stadium site.

“That’s only the first building of many,” Felder said. “We’ll definitely see an increase in traffic.”

While the thought of Carowinds fixing roads may seem outlandish, the theme park actually has some history helping roads in the area. A designated development district at Carowinds puts some tax money from every admission ticket sold into an account to pay for road projects generating tourism there.

“Carowinds is a huge asset to York County,” Felder said.

Two seasons ago, Carowinds reconfigured its exit using the funds. Last year, money went to left turn lanes on Carowinds Boulevard and widening of Festival Drive. Money also has been used to improve access to and from I-77 in the Carowinds area.