A well-known Fort Mill shortcut could soon prohibit large vehicles. Here’s where.
A Fort Mill cut-through road could one day not be an option for the heaviest traffic that travels there.
On Sept. 8, York County has scheduled its first vote on a proposed ordinance that would stop truck traffic on Hensley Road East. That road is a cut-through from Tom Hall Street to Fort Mill Parkway.
Tom Hall Street (S.C. 160) and Fort Mill Parkway are largely commercial highways. Hensley Road East, cut off from Hensley West by the creation of Fort Mill Parkway, runs through a mix of long-time homes and new subdivisions.
According to the York County proposal up for vote Tuesday, there is an inordinate amount of truck traffic that cuts through on Hensley Road East. According to the proposed ordinance, the county would have authority to cut truck traffic on roads where “design, condition, traffic density, intensive use by the traveling public or other reasons of public safety and convenience” dictate.
Municipalities that want to restrict truck traffic on a specific route have to work with the South Carolina Department of Transportation. Municipalities also have to suggest an alternate route for heavy vehicles. In this case the alternate would be the straight-line route to the Tom Hall and Fort Mill Parkway intersection.
The proposal must go through two more council votes. If approved the prohibition would apply to trucks, trailers, semi-trailers or other motor vehicles with a weight of 10,000 pounds or more. It wouldn’t apply to passenger automobiles, police, fire or other emergency vehicles. It could apply to pickup trucks if they hit the 10,000-pound or more mark.
York County Council meets at 6 p.m. Sept. 8, at the county government center at 6 S. Congress St. in York.
Fort Mill Parkway opened four years ago largely due to extensive through traffic downtown. Town council member Larry Huntley often states the chorus of traffic concerns he and other council members hear is largely due to people traveling to and from Rock Hill, Charlotte, Ballantyne, Lancaster County and other locales on opposite sides of Fort Mill.
“There’s not much the town, or even the county can do,” Huntley said. “We just don’t have many east-to-west expressways.”
Huntley said Tuesday’s county vote hasn’t come up among town officials. He said he understands the concern, though he wonders how much the proposed ordinance would help residents on Hensley Road East.
Town leaders often discuss the no-through designation on Main Street in Fort Mill, and how large trucks continue to travel that road.
Huntley said he recalls a large truck with a boat behind it coming up Main, damaging vehicles along the way.
“On the truck issue, they’ve already got signs,” Huntley said. “If you put up more signs, that’s just more signs they’re not going to pay attention to.”
