Road improvements in York, Lancaster, Chester counties. Will your commute be affected?
The South Carolina Department of Transportation has a new list of planned road fixes, which include some heavily trafficked areas in York, Lancaster and Chester counties.
SCDOT has two separate pavement improvement programs that run from 2022 to 2024. A public comment period is open. Barring significant changes, the newly listed roads will become part of the current statewide transportation improvement plan.
Projects are broken into major or primary roads, secondary roads and neighborhood-level roads. York, Lancaster and Chester counties have roads of each type in the state’s proposal. Some roads would be repaired, and others reconstructed entirely.
York County
York County has four major road projects listed. The busiest is a more than 5-mile stretch of Dave Lyle Boulevard from downtown to the Waterford Golf Club area. It starts at Dave Lyle and Black Street downtown and includes the Anderson Road, Galleria Mall and Interstate 77 corridors.
The others listed are two connected sections of McConnells Highway — 9 combined miles — from S.C. 97 to Chester Highway, and almost 3 miles of Liberty Highway in downtown York.
York County has four secondary roads on the list. Gordon Road, a connection from York to McConnells highways between Rock Hill and York, is the largest at more than 4 miles. At about one-tenth of a mile, the section of Zoar Road from the North Carolina line south near Tega Cay is the smallest of all listed projects in the area. Almost 3 miles each of Sutton Spring Road west of York and Mount Gallant Road in northern Rock Hill also are included.
Four neighborhood roads in York County combined for about 6 miles of pavement improvements. Sam Smith and Altura roads in Fort Mill make that list as well as Faulkner and Maynard Grayson roads in Clover.
Lancaster County
Much of the Lancaster County work focuses on Rocky River Road heading south from the North Carolina state line. Three of the six major road projects are connected stretches of Rocky River, almost 10 combined miles. Two of three secondary road projects follow the same alignment, with more than 5 miles of Fork Hill Road and another mile of Cimmeron Road. Combined, the jobs almost reach from the state line to Kershaw.
Almost 2 miles of Chester Highway at the Chester County line and two S.C. 9 Bypass projects that are more than 2 combined miles in Lancaster make up the rest of the major road jobs. The other secondary project is Gillsbrook Road into Lancaster.
The county has a dozen neighborhood streets listed. The Lancaster streets include Patton, Hunter/Central, Jackson, Mason and Pink Dogwood streets; Hampton Grace, Pinewood, Maplewood and Oakwood avenues; Williams Circle, Abbey Court and Oakdale Drive.
Chester County
Chester County projects run from top to bottom of the county on its eastern side. They largely parallel I-77. Major road projects include almost 14 miles of Mountain Gap Road in two projects, almost 7 miles of Wylies Mill Road and almost 6 miles of Edgeland Road.
The only secondary road project listed for Chester County is a more than two-mile stretch of Beltline Road east of Chester. Neighborhood street projects involve Stames, Wellridge and Stringfellow roads between Chester, Richburg and Edgemoor.
Public comment
Together, the new lists include 1,643 miles of roadway statewide. The public comment period on the plan runs through June 14 and can be submitted online at scdot.org.
SCDOT road projects are funded largely through a state gas tax. This spring, amid soaring gas prices, the Herald asked area readers through an online vote for thoughts on a proposal at the time to cut the gas tax back for relief at the pump, even if it meant slower progress to fix roads funded by the money.
In that online question, 92% of responses indicated people would rather leave the gas tax in place if it means needed road work continues on schedule.
This story was originally published May 24, 2022 at 3:48 PM.
