York County’s record $410 million Pennies road list is set. Did your road make it?
More than half of a record $411 million in Pennies for Progress roads money on the ballot this fall would go toward projects already approved by voters in past campaigns.
The six-member citizen commission that’s met and taken public input on road needs for more than a year voted Wednesday night on a new $410.65 million project list. York County Council will see it in May and can vote for or against putting it on a referendum ballot in November — but not to change it.
The project list is largely devoid of new, major widening work that’s been a hallmark of Pennies since the first referendum in 1997. The first and largest requests from cities and towns throughout the county also didn’t make the list that instead focuses largely on intersection improvements.
Pennies is a one-cent sales tax that, if approved by voters, lasts for seven years. York County was the first in South Carolina to start a program with a referendum in 1997. This fall would be the fifth Pennies campaign.
Despite the high total budget, fewer large projects this time are the result of increased costs for existing jobs from prior Pennies campaigns.
“The funds are just so tight,” said commission chairman Britt Blackwell.
What carryover projects are on the list?
Eight still-unfinished projects from past Pennies votes are in right-of-way acquisition, utility relocation or final plan stages. Their combined cost is $322 million, and the fifth Pennies campaign would include the remaining $225 million of that amount.
Widening of U.S. 21 and S.C. 51 near Carowinds and the northern part of U.S. 21 date back to the third Pennies campaign, passed by voters in 2011. Other included projects are holdovers from the Pennies vote in 2017. Fort Mill would see widening of a stretch of U.S. 21 and an intersection realignment at Sutton Road, Spratt Street and Fort Mill Parkway. There’s also an intersection upgrade at Sutton and Harris roads.
The U.S. 21 and Springdale intersection and Flint Street community drainage project are in Rock Hill. Widening of S.C. 557 and improvements at the S.C. 49, 274 and 557 intersection in Lake Wylie are included.
What new projects made the list?
After the $225 million of carryover work, the next-biggest item is $80 million for repaving. That money will go toward smaller projects countywide. Widening of the last stretch of U.S. 21 in Fort Mill from Sutton Road to S.C. 160. is next at almost $45 million.
The citizen commission sees U.S. 21 as a regional concern and as an alternative to I-77 through Rock Hill and Fort Mill. That stretch of U.S. 21 is the final piece of two-lane road from the North Carolina line through Fort Mill and into Rock Hill that hasn’t been widened or scheduled for widening. Pennies is responsible for prior and ongoing work on the Fort Mill side.
“It’s finishing the commitment,” Blackwell said.
A request from Fort Mill to widen a new stretch of Fort Mill Parkway didn’t make the list, but it does include $9 million to design that widening for a future Pennies campaign or other group to build it.
Other prioritized projects, mainly intersection realignments, include:
▪ Neely Road corridor in Rock Hill
▪ Dam/Gardendale roads in Tega Cay
▪ Bethel Street/Jackson Terrace in Clover
▪ U.S. 321/Old North Main St. in Clover
▪ Church/Liberty/Hunter streets in York
▪ Liberty Street/Pacific Avenue in York
▪ S.C. 49/Blucher Circle in Lake Wylie
▪ S.C. 49/Bonum/Montgomery roads in Lake Wylie
▪ White Street corridor improvements in Rock Hill
▪ S.C. 55 and Maynard Grayson Road in Clover
▪ U.S. 321/Flatrock Road/Huffman Way in Clover
▪ Church/Jefferson streets in York
▪ U.S. 321/Devinney Road in York
▪ Tom Joye/St. Paul Church roads in Clover
▪ Ebinport Road/Marrett Boulevard in Rock Hill
▪ Black Street/Albright Road in Rock Hill
What didn’t make the list?
Many of the most expensive projects, often top priorities submitted by city and town planning staffs or elected bodies in the past year, aren’t included.
Porter Road widening in Rock Hill isn’t on the Pennies list. Neither are widening of Fort Mill Parkway from the railroad overpass near U.S. Foods to Holbrook Road (though design money made the list) nor North White Street in Fort Mill. Tega Cay didn’t get Dam or Sutton roads widening. Lake Wylie got some intersection work, but not the full corridor improvements request for S.C. 49.
The commission priced and prioritized top requests throughout the process that started in January of last year. Funding demands from carryover projects, which the commission only recently found out, changed plans.
“I think we did that,” said commission member Chad Williams. “We just got to the point where we couldn’t do them.”
