Fort Mill road construction projects aim to ease your commute. Here’s where they are.
A number of construction projects are either planned or under way across Fort Mill aimed at improving traffic flow, a county official said Monday.
Patrick Hamilton, who heads the Pennies for Progress program in York County, updated the York County Council about the projects, which he said runs across the county from Rock Hill to Lake Wylie and beyond. Much of the work involves Fort Mill.
Here’s a look at three major construction efforts and when they might open to traffic:
Fort Mill Parkway at Spratt Street
The projected $9 million intersection upgrade at Fort Mill Parkway and Spratt Street should improve traffic flow at a choke point. That site is the end of Fort Mill Parkway, which bypasses the town. It’s across from Riverview Elementary School near U.S. 21, on the way to Rock Hill via the Catawba River bridge.
“That’s a much-need intersection improvement project,” Hamilton said. “Traffic gets backed up pretty bad at that intersection each morning and evening.”
It’s also on the parkway near Catawba Ridge High School and the new River Trail Elementary and Forest Creek Middle schools, plus the massive Elizabeth subdivision under development. There’s so much growth in the area that Pennies already has a separate, $23 million five-lane widening planned for Sutton Road, Spratt Street and Fort Mill Parkway area from Interstate 77 to the railroad bridge on the parkway.
The intersection improvement across from Riverview and Comporium Athletic Park comes first.
“We’ve gotten all of our permits and approvals, so this is at the Procurement Department right now being reviewed,” he said.
Hamilton hopes to put bids out to contractors and open them in March. He could then return to the York County Council by its first May meeting to approve a construction contract.
“You’re talking June or July to be able to start construction,” he said.
The latest estimate is a 2022 completion.
I-77 and S.C. 160
The South Carolina Department of Transportation intends to start right-of-way acquisition this summer on exit 85 interchange work on I-77. Along with interchange work, S.C. 160 will be widened to six lanes from Pleasant Road to U.S. 21.
Work is a mix of state infrastructure bank, county and federal funding with the state Department of Transportation managing the work.
“They’re all being built together,” Hamilton said.
Construction should begin late next year or in early 2023. It’s expected to be at least a two-year construction job, he said.
Interchange work at I-77 and Cherry/Celanese roads in Rock Hill is part of the same state infrastructure bank funding. The Rock Hill work hasn’t had a consultant hired or design set, and is a good bit behind the Fort Mill work.
“They’re active and they’re moving forward,” Hamilton said.
I-77 and Gold Hill Road
A bridge deck has been poured and a bridge over the interstate widened at I-77 and Gold Hill Road. Earlier in that project, completion was pushed out to a late summer 2021 target due to utility delays. Now there’s a different delay.
“With the weather lately I wouldn’t be surprised if that does bleed into the fall,” Hamilton said.
Curb and gutter work plus sidewalks are up next, but it could be March or April before dirt starts moving at the exit 88 site, Hamilton said.
“This one is kind of struggling with activities that the contractor can do,” he said.
The reason is the same one plaguing other active construction, he said.
Any ongoing construction — S.C. 274 and Pole Branch Road in Lake Wylie is a big one — in York County has to contend with the deluge of rain in recent days.
“This obviously has had an impact on our projects,” Hamilton said. “This whole week is probably a wash.”
Rain forecast for later this week could spill into even later starts for crews planning to resume work.
“Now next week is starting to be in jeopardy,” Hamilton said. “When the temperatures only get in the 40s, and it’s wet, the ground doesn’t dry. So it makes it difficult and limits the contractors to what they’re actually able to complete.”
