What’s known now as group decides how York County’s future road money might be spent
The canvass of York County to determine critical road needs is halfway home.
After last week’s meeting in Clover, the citizen committee tasked with creating the next Pennies for Progress road list heads into its summer swing. The committee already has heard from Tega Cay, Lake Wylie and Clover, plus groups that serve urbanized and rural areas countywide.
The latter half of its public meeting list visits York on June 21. Then to Fort Mill on July 19 and Sharon on Aug. 16 before wrapping up in Rock Hill on Sept. 20. Future meetings are still a possibility.
Got a road in York County that needs fixing? Here’s your chance to put it on the list
Pennies for Progress is a voter-approved one-cent sales tax to fund road work. A referendum sets up the tax for seven years. It started in 1997 in York County, and the next vote is expected in November 2024. The citizen commission, after visiting areas countywide for input, will create a list York County Council either can approve or deny in full for the ballot next fall.
At the halfway point, here are the projects presented to the commission thus far:
Tega Cay
City staff presented four widening and two repaving projects in March. Widening Dam Road to three lanes from S.C. 160 to Gardendale Road with a new roundabout at Gardendale would serve the new “Main Street” project the city envisions at the former Game On property. Plus new home developments Windell Woods and Cadence use Dam Road.
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Widening Sutton Road to four lanes from Mills Lane to the I-77 northbound ramp would match it with other four-lane stretches in the area that serves Baxter, Mason’s Bend, Catawba Park and more. It also would create a better alternate route for interstate congestion.
Widening Pleasant Road to four lanes from S.C. 160 to Gold Hill Road would continue that Sutton Road collector system. It has access along schools now served with an older, two-lane, farm-to-town road setup.
Widening New Gray Rock Road to three lanes from Sutton Road to Bluebell Way would help with demand from the buildout of Lakeridge, Cadence, Windell Woods, Catawba Park and Catawba River access.
The city presented repaving projects on Dam Road from Gardendale Road to Coralbell Way, and Stonecrest Boulevard from Hubert Graham Way to Dam Road.
RFATS, Catawba Regional
The Rock Hill-Fort Mill Area Transportation Study covers urbanized areas of York and Lancaster counties. Catawba Regional Council of Governments serves rural parts of York County. Both groups presented projects jointly in April.
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Widening of U.S. 21 to five lanes in Fort Mill, from S.C. 160 to the Catawba River and Rock Hill, would serve large areas like Kingsley, Baxter and Riverwalk. It’s also the likeliest corridor for future mass transit, and the main option now to bypass I-77 during high traffic times.
A new pedestrian flyover bridge added onto the ongoing S.C. 160 and I-77 interchange project, over S.C. 160, is an option. So are improvements on the S.C. 160 corridor for future transit options like bus routes. RFATS presented interchange upgrade needs at Exit 77 in Rock Hill, and recommendations from a recent corridor study on S.C. 49 in Lake Wylie from Buster Boyd Bridge to Three Points. RFATS also pitched widening of Dobys Bridge Road in Fort Mill as an alternative to S.C. 160 heading to Indian Land.
On the western side of York County, Catawba Regional offered two widening and six intersection improvements. They center on safety upgrades. Widening work, both in Clover, would involve S.C. 55 from Rockford Way to Clinton Avenue near downtown and U.S. 321 Main or Main Street from Flatrock to Marion streets.
U.S. 321 intersections at Johnson/Devinney roads, West Liberty Street and Alexander Love Highway were proposed. So were Old North Main Street and U.S. 321, and at Memorial Drive and Clinton Avenue in Clover. Old Limestone and Meadow roads in York also made the recommendation list.
Lake Wylie
The Lake Wylie Chamber of Commerce, with a committee including Clover School District officials and others, presented earlier this month for an area where population has increased significantly in recent years. More new home development and even a new high school are coming.
Lake Wylie requests include directional island, raised medians and other S.C. 49 improvements listed in the recent RFATS corridor study. Improvement of lanes in front of Clover High School made the request list for safety. So did a Montgomery and Bonum roads connections to Robinwood Lane, to create a parallel route to S.C. 49. To the south, there’s similar Carrol Cove and Evergreen roads connections to Hamiltons Ferry Road.
Larger ideas include an extension of Pole Branch Road and a new bridge across the Catawba River, connecting Rock Hill either to Tega Cay or Fort Mill, to take traffic off Buster Boyd Bridge.
Widening of Paraham Road and repaving of a host of other roads also made the request list.
A main concern offered in Lake Wylie wasn’t for a new road project, but a long-awaited one. Pennies approved new work on S.C. 557 as part of its 2003 campaign. The project carried over to its 2011 referendum.
“The taxes have been collected and that road needs to be done now or soon,” said Susan Bromfield, president of the Lake Wylie Chamber of Commerce. “It is a safety issue.”
Further delay, Bromfield said, could impact how voters in the Lake Wylie area feel about the next Pennies vote when they head to the polls.
Clover
Earlier this month Clover Town Council approved its list to present to the Pennies commission. Clover offers two widening, three resurfacing, five intersection and five sidewalk projects. Many are connected.
Requested widening jobs are S.C. 55 from Griggs Road to Charlotte Highway, and from Jackson Terrace to Clinton Avenue and Sumter Street. They combine for almost five miles. Resurfacing work would come on Old North Main Street from North Main to Columbia streets, Jackson Terrace from Bethel Street to Hampshire Lane/Valley Avenue and McConnell Street from South Main to White streets.
The North Main and Old North Main streets intersection made the recommendation list, as did intersections at North Main and Columbia, Bethel Street and Jackson Terrace, South Main and Flatrock Street/Huffman Way and Tom Joye Street at St. Paul Church Road, Saturn Lane and Memorial Drive.
Sidewalk requests are sections of S.C. 557, Soaring Eagles Road, Guinn and North Main streets, Jackson Terrace and Clinton Avenue.
Online input
Cities, towns and public groups presented projects in the first half of commission meetings, and others will in the coming half. But anyone in York County can suggest a road or intersection. There’s an online option at penniesforprogress.net.
