Local road fixes in talks, but no plans set

Local leaders hear complaints about congested, pitted roads. They drive those same roads and they say they are looking for solutions.

They just don’t have specifics yet.

York County Council met Jan. 19, after which Council members gathered as part of a transportation committee. The lone agenda item was discussion of a transportation plan to deal with high-growth areas Fort Mill, Tega Cay and Lake Wylie.

“Everything is on the table,” Councilman Bruce Henderson said. “Everything is to be looked at. All of the above.”

Also on Jan. 19, Tega Cay City Council met. That agenda included a discussion on growth along S.C. 160 and Gold Hill Road, which carried over into executive session. Charlie Funderburk, city manager, said nothing was decided during executive session.

“The item was tabled until our workshop on Feb. 1,” he said.

“The executive session was so that council could receive legal advice to better help them frame their conversations during that workshop.”

The city doesn’t want to move toward specific solutions until leaders know they can.

“We have to make certain that whatever council may decide, it doesn’t infringe on anyone’s vested property rights,” Funderburk said.

The York County group discussed a wide range of topics. Henderson would like to see a “fairly defined plan” in the next few months, whether as resolution or planning document. Issues include tweaks to Pennies for Progress, work with state legislators on what role the county and state should have for maintenance moving forward, even whether to take in new roads when subdivisions are complete.

“If we can’t take care of what we’ve got now, why should we take in more?” Henderson said. “It’s been a custom to take in new development roads after they meet (county) standards, but at this point now, everything is being considered.”

Henderson would like some definite maintenance plan between the county and state. He’s fine with the South Carolina Department of Transportation maintaining state roads. If the state chooses to send maintenance money to counties versus the transportation department doing the work, Henderson wouldn’t be bothered.

“We know our local roads way more than the politicians in Columbia,” he said.

Henderson said there isn’t enough support on council to halt new construction altogether. Reducing permits or slowing down the building permitting process in high-growth areas could be an option.

“There’s not enough support for a complete moratorium,” Henderson said.

Required traffic impact analysis should carry more weight too, he said, when deciding on new development projects.

“There’s just not a lot of emphasis on the traffic impact analysis,” Henderson said. “It doesn’t carry a lot of weight, it seems like.”

The most pressing concern is Pennies, the county’s 1-percent sales tax voters approve for use on road construction. The county is now working on the next Pennies vote. So leaders want to evaluate what went right (many more miles of new roads than without Pennies) and what went wrong (cost overruns and some projects carrying over from one campaign to another) before making a new case for funds.

“Overall we’re just trying to rebuild the public’s, not just approval, but their confidence in the program,” Henderson said.

Another discussion was making sure Pennies can “fulfill that promise” when it puts a project on the list approved by voters. Another involved renegotiating with contractors given dips in crude oil and natural gas prices, which impact construction costs.

“It’s one of the few things that once it goes up, it can come back down,” Henderson said. “There’s no reason in my mind why these contractors can’t come down and we can’t maximize these funds.”

Another main concern involves maintenance within Pennies. To date, all Pennies funds have been used for construction rather than maintenance costs. Yet people are “losing faith” with roads in poor conditions, as pothole are filled and sometimes washed out within days or weeks.

“Some portion of the next Pennies should be for resurfacing or maintenance,” Henderson said.

With traffic concerns, one point agreed on by local leaders is that decisions made in one area can impact others. Which is why high-growth areas are being looked at together.

“Traffic is traffic,” Funderburk said. “We don’t necessarily have an issue with traffic in Tega Cay, but you can’t get outside the city without driving through it.”

This story was originally published January 22, 2016 at 11:51 AM with the headline "Local road fixes in talks, but no plans set."