Officials pitch Pennies proposals for Fort Mill, Rock Hill areas

If the committee picking new Pennies for Progress projects has a hard time, it won’t be for lack of options.

The group heard about two dozen possibilities Wednesday night, as leaders from the Rock Hill-Fort Mill Area Transportation Study and Catawba Regional Council of Governments made cases for local roads.

RFATS includes Rock Hill and Fort Mill, along with urbanized parts of Lake Wylie and Indian Land. Catawba Regional includes four counties, and made the case for rural road needs. The Pennies group also has heard or will hear from each municipality in York County, along with submitted citizen input.

On Nov. 7, 2017, York County voters will decide whether to approve their fourth one-cent sales tax for road improvements since the program began in 1997. Jerry Helms, a member of the group appointed to select roads for each campaign, in chairman for Pennies 4.

“In the end it has saved lives,” Helms said. “It has improved connectivity.”

Still, needs remain. David Hooper, RFATS director, outlined numerous road needs almost exclusively impacting high growth areas and interstate connections. His group identified I-77 exits 82 and 85, Celriver Road widening and extension to Dave Lyle Boulevard in Rock Hill, and the S.C. 5 and U.S. 21 areas off I-77 within its own long-range plan.

Exit 82 is a main concern, with three exits in the Celanese and Cherry roads area projected for 90,000 vehicles per day soon.

“This is one of our most complex areas,” Hooper said. “This is a choke point.”

Exit 85 in Fort Mill sits in the fast-growing area near Baxter, Kingsley North and the Knights Stadium redevelopment.

Outside of the RFATS plan, Pennies should consider 13 more projects with regional impact.

“We look at how the area functions as a whole,” Hooper said.

Those non-prioritized needs include a new Catawba River crossing connecting Rock Hill and Fort Mill, an extension of Hubert Graham Way from Tega Cay Drive to Zoar Road in Tega Cay, S.C. 49 widening or intersection improvements from Three Points to Buster Boyd Bridge in Lake Wylie and widening of South Dobys Bridge Road from U.S. 21 in Fort Mill almost to U.S. 521 in Indian Land.

Rock Hill needs, Hooper said, include Ebinport Road widening, an interchange improvement at U.S. 21 and Springdale Road, and Eden Terrace widening.

Fort Mill needs include a widening from two to five lines at U.S. 21 from the Catawba River to Springfield Parkway and along Pleasant Road, Sutton Road from U.S. 21 to S.C. 160, Springfield Parkway and even the Fort Mill Southern Bypass which is still under construction from a past Pennies campaign.

“Purely from a network standpoint,” Hooper said, “this clearly has our attention.”

Several of the RFATS suggestions could cost more by themselves than the full Catawba Regional submission, an estimated $16.3 million worth of work in York, Clover and on S.C. 161. Those projects include bike or pedestrian lanes, shoulder widening and connections from schools to local sites.

“Our responsibility is for the rural transportation network,” said Robby Moody, Catawba Regional planner. “It’s different, and there are different expectations for transportation.”

No items were approved Wednesday. The Pennies 4 committee will continue gathering input until it makes a final recommendation to York County Council in May of next year. Next steps for Wednesday’s recommendations will be to prioritize them, which will steer the committee in deciding which projects make the cut.

“It helps us focus that limited budget,” Helms said.

The last Pennies campaign was approved for $161 million. Projects should come in at about $165 million. All three Pennies campaigns thus far combine for about $540 million.

This story was originally published April 21, 2016 at 3:44 PM with the headline "Officials pitch Pennies proposals for Fort Mill, Rock Hill areas."