Pennies roads projects ongoing in Fort Mill

As talk turns to the next Pennies for Progress campaign, plenty of work from past votes remains in Fort Mill.

Pennies for Progress, York County’s voter-approved one-cent sales tax for road improvements, is heading toward its fourth campaign. A vote is planned Nov. 7, 2017.

A campaign commission is meeting residents and municipal officials across the county for input on which projects should be included. The Fort Mill meeting comes July 20. Fort Mill Town Council will talk projects at a May workshop prior to that event.

“I would like to think with the level of importance of this,” Mayor Guynn Savage said of the July 20 event, “there would be a good turnout.”

Several new projects already have been mentioned as possibilities in Fort Mill. Then there is the ongoing construction from past Pennies votes. Six active projects in the Fort Mill area total more than $76 million in improvements.

“You would be hard-pressed to find any community in the state that has that much money set aside for road funding, outside York County,” said Joe Cronin, town planning director.

The biggest is the final leg of the Fort Mill Southern Bypass. The nearly $24 million stretch from Fort Mill to Springfield parkways was part of the 2003 Pennies vote. The latest estimate is June for completion, though the project has missed deadlines before.

“I don’t believe any schedule that they give us,” Savage said.

Weather and contractor delays have been at issue, the latter leading to action from the county.

“There will be penalties assigned to the contract,” Cronin said.

Other projects come from the 2011 Pennies vote. A more than $22 million widening of U.S. 21 North and S.C. 51 is in design now. The county will begin acquiring right-of-way this summer with a 2020 completion target. The project will help with Carowinds traffic, from Springfield Parkway to the North Carolina line.

Along the bypass is a $4.7 million improvement at the Spratt and Sutton roads end of Fort Mill Parkway. Right-of-way won’t begin until next spring. Completion isn’t expected until 2018.

“2018 is way out there for the type of congestion I’m seeing,” Savage said.

Cronin said traffic issues there aren’t just limited to the morning rush hour. The main issue is at U.S. 21 and Spratt Street, an area that may warrant consideration on the coming Pennies list.

Right-of-way starts this spring on the $11.6 million interchange improvement at I-77 and Gold Hill Road. The project is not expected to be completed before 2019.

A $4.7 million widening of S.C. 160 East from Springfield Parkway to the Lancaster County line has an engineer, but no construction contract. Completion isn’t expected until 2021.

Savage said with that improvement so far out, she’s concerned it won’t meet the traffic demand once it opens. Plus, a bridge in the area needs to be widened to fit more lanes.

“It just doesn’t make sense to make a partial improvement that has a bottleneck,” she said.

A similar issue could face the $8.8 million widening of S.C. 160 West from Zoar Road to the North Carolina line. North Carolina doesn’t have plans to widen its side. Right-of-way should begin on the South Carolina side this summer with completion expected in 2019.

“There’s a good chance this will be pushing the bottleneck up toward the state line,” Cronin said.

Future projects

At its most recent meeting in Rock Hill, the Pennies commission heard several possible projects in the Fort Mill area for the 2017 vote. The list will be finalized in May 2017 and presented to York County Council for approval or denial outright.

“They can’t pick and choose,” said Patrick Hamilton, program director for Pennies.

They include yet more work along the bypass, up to five lanes on Pleasant Road and on U.S. 21 from the Catawba River to Springfield Parkway, work on Sutton Road, Springfield Parkway, South Doby’s Bridge Road toward the county line and even a once discussed new Catawba River crossing from Fort Mill to Rock Hill.

“It should certainly be put on the table,” said David Hooper, director of the Rock Hill-Fort Mill Area Transportation Study.

Another plan involves the extension of Hubert Graham Way in Tega Cay.

All of those projects were given as possibilities, but there is no formal project list yet.

Pennies projects likely will be spread throughout York County. Most of the projects presented at the last commission meeting came from Rock Hill and Fort Mill. Pennies program can help alleviate traffic in high growth areas, but new roads also can be a sign of more traffic to come.

“To some extent, we control where growth is going to come by where we put these roads,” said York County Councilwoman Christi Cox.

There have been concerns with past Pennies projects, from cost overruns to how long it takes to complete a project. Between funding projects, garnering state or federal approvals, getting right-of-way and putting pavement to the ground, a decade or so isn’t uncommon.

“Seven to 10 years is not uncommon,” Hamilton said. “That’s not just the county. It’s the state. Seven years is not uncommon at all.”

While there are concerns with how long new road projects take and cost overruns, elected and municipal officials countywide almost unanimously agree Pennies is a benefit to the county.

“Most people, like myself, never drove on these roads before and they don’t know what it was like,” Hamilton said.

This story was originally published May 4, 2016 at 5:48 PM with the headline "Pennies roads projects ongoing in Fort Mill."