The top traffic fix in the Rock Hill and Fort Mill metros just got more expensive.
The overwhelming public choice to fix the top problem traffic area in urbanized York or Lancaster counties also is the most expensive.
On Friday afternoon South Carolina Department of Transportation project manager Berry Mattox updated the Rock Hill-Fort Mill Area Transportation Study on the I-77 and S.C. 160 interchange. Additional road widening further from the intersection and a possible bridge replacement now put cost estimates for the most popular fix there at $73 million.
A year ago the estimate was about $50 million.
“That $73 million is a significant departure from that number we had talked about just a year ago,” Mattox said.
Right-of-way acquisition scheduled from 2020-22 and construction expected in 2022-24.
Directional interchange
At a Jan. 30 public meeting on the exit 85 work, Mattox presented three options to improve traffic. What followed were 462 formal public comments and a 1,700-signature petition related to pedestrian lanes. The most expensive option, a directional interchange, was the top choice.
“All the movements are discreet and separated,” Mattox said. “We have one traffic signal. It does include two additional bridges across I-77.”
On Friday, Mattox talked about the direction option, and what in January was the least costly option. A diverging diamond setup is the same as what is under construction at I-77 and Gold Hill Road. Either option would include widening of S.C. 160 to six lanes with a landscaped median and buffers, sidewalks on both sides.
The directional interchange isn’t set as the pick, but it could be.
“This is kind of the alternative right now that we’re looking at the hardest,” Mattox said.
Yet both options showed up in the meeting Friday at about $20 million more than prior estimates.
Lane widening and a new bridge
Heading into Fort Mill from the Peach Stand, the lane tapers only slightly before it’s one lane. Further study found widening needs to extend past the Peach Stand with another eastbound lane through the intersection. It would add about 900 feet of taper, doubling how much traffic could flow toward town at the S.C. 160 and U.S. 21 intersection.
“We feel that this is a needed addition to this project to make this intersection work well,” Mattox said.
In addition to the growing number of people in Fort Mill in general and the Kingsley and Baxter areas in particular, there’s a new hospital planned on S.C. 160 near the Peach Stand.
The other main cost change involves the existing S.C. 160 bridge over the interstate. Initial plans were to retain that bridge. With the lanes and pedestrian access needed now, improvements may be too wide for that it.
“It may be necessary to actually replace the bridge itself,” Mattox said.
The bridge dates back to the mid-70s. It’s rated in good condition now, built for a 75-year usable life.
“Once they start to decline,” Mattox said, “it’s a pretty rapid decline.”
Federal bridge money could be available to help. For now estimates put the diverging diamond at $45 million, compared to the directional at $73 million. RFATS has $25 million in its current transportation plan for the project that tops its priority list for urbanized area projects throughout Rock Hill, Fort Mill, Tega Cay, Indian Land and Lake Wylie.
State infrastructure bank
Despite the high priority, the S.C. 160 interchange is in holding pattern. York County has applied with the state infrastructure bank for $160 million in I-77 interchange improvements at S.C. 160, Carowinds Boulevard and Cherry/Celanese roads. Included is $50 million for the S.C. 160 interchange.
York County committed to a $30 million match for that program. That money, paid for through the county share of gas tax revenue, includes about $7 million for S.C. 160. Yet those funds are dependent on an infrastructure bank decision.
“It’s difficult for us to make a complete decision without knowing what the SIB board will or will not do,” said Fort Mill Mayor Guynn Savage.
The state infrastructure bank is a program that assists with loans and other financial challenges for large transportation projects in South Carolina. Economic development projects in particular are considered by the bank, which aids with major projects to SCDOT can devote resources elsewhere.
As the top RFATS priority and an expensive one, the S.C. 160 decision reaches beyond Fort Mill.
“The fate of this project and most projects in the RFATS area hinges on the SIB actually doing something in the next 30 days,” said York County Council Chairman Michael Johnson.
Johnson serves the Fort Mill and Tega Cay areas and has an interest in improvements at S.C. 160. Yet he sees the larger transportation issue that includes Rock Hill and other areas.
“We also as a group have to address Celanese at some point,” Johnson said.
Without infrastructure bank assistance, RFATS may have to go into seven or eight years of debt to pay its share of S.C. 160 upgrades. Infrastructure bank approval could cut that length of debt in half.
If the state bank makes a decision before RFATS meets in June, the project timeline should remain on pace. Otherwise it could be delayed.
“If you go past that point, then I think they’re going to have to look at refining the schedule,” Hooper said. “We need as clear a response as we can get.”
Savage sees so many moving parts — the state bank, vocal businesses on the highway asking for traffic relief, the financial impact of COVID-19 coronavirus that could dry public revenue streams for some time still — she believes there will be some sort of schedule delay.
“This is as complicated as it gets,” she said.
A lasting interchange
Chief Bill Harris with Catawba Indian Nation doesn’t serve constituents along the busy Fort Mill corridor. Yet as an RFATS policy committee member he said he knows it well.
“It keeps coming back up,” Harris said. “The other part of it is, the area keeps growing. It’s not diminishing.”
Area growth both adds to and at times helps with traffic congestion. The Piedmont Medical Center hospital in Fort Mill will come with traffic improvements. They could include turn lanes into and out of their site, and perhaps even at the intersection beside the Peach Stand. Large incoming development has to perform a traffic study and is responsible for making needed changes.
Baxter and Kingsley aren’t responsible for paying into the widening work in front of them. Yet they faced the same traffic study and fix requirements when they were developed. Plus, the Springs family that developed those areas committed to donating right-of-way for widening. That decision, road planners say, can have a significant impact on costs and timing.
The negative impact of growth on traffic is obvious. More people mean more vehicles, and more traffic. Mattox said either improvement option at this point will show significant improvement to traffic flow. How long that improvement lasts will vary depending on the option.
The directional interchange will improve conditions on a 20-year horizon. The less expensive diverging diamond will last 10 years. Other factors could extend those life estimates, like another possible I-77 access point at Coltharp Road. Mattox said the 10- and 20-year estimates aren’t to suggest the road would be unusable past that point. It’s more a matter of how long the fixes will improve conditions as the community grows.
Area planners are hopeful they will have good news from the infrastructure bank within a month so they can better refine time and cost estimates. Until then, there are too many variables to move forward.
“Of course I’d like the answer that we’re looking for,” Savage said, “but we need an answer.”
