73 replies to this topic

[Captain Worley]

That's weird because I was under the impression that they already are maintained by the county.  Maybe it was just a Lower Richland area thing.  Or did the state take the afforementioned 'roads' over sometime in the nineties?

[Spartan]

The article says that the state stopped accepting new roads of those types back in 94, so maybe thats what you're thinking of?

[crescentmoon]

Spartan, on Sep 24 2007, 04:55 PM, said:

There is a plan brewing in the State House to give control of some state maintained roads back to the Counties. Specifically it would include dirt roads, parking lots, subdivision roads and short roads that lead to individual homes or buildings. It would reduce the mileage of state-maintained roads by 10%.

I think this is all well and good so long as they aren't dumped on the counties without any funding attached. I agree with reducing the amount of roads owned by SCDOT (which is pretty much all of them). It will be interesting to see what the proposals are.

Link

Counties have long been doing the same thing to municipalities for years --- and they have been doing it "without any funding attached."  I don't think the counties should complain too much about this since these roads really should have been county maintained all along.

[Captain Worley]

Spartan, on Sep 25 2007, 08:18 AM, said:

The article says that the state stopped accepting new roads of those types back in 94, so maybe thats what you're thinking of?

I'm not sure.  I KNOW when I left the LR area in 1989 the county was maintaining a lot (if not all) of the dirt roads in the area, and some subdivisions.

[Spartan]

SCDOT is looking at studying HOV lanes for I-26. Charleston would be the first in the state to get HOV lanes if this were to happen.

P&C Article

[Spartan]

Turns out that SCDOT is looking at HOV lanes for the each big 3, and not just for Charleston. I guess the Post & Courier is just more on top of things. I presume this is primarily for I-26 in Charleston and Columbia, and probably 85 and 385 in Greenville. This is a "breaking news" piece, so I assume more is to follow.

Herald-Journal Article

Ok, after more research, it looks like Charleston is the first candidate city, but the models will presumably work for Greenville and Columbia too.

The State

[GvilleSC]

For Greenville, depending on the setup, I-85 would be a lost cause for commuters using HOV. Unless exits were setup from the middle HOV lanes, most people are not on I-85 that long during rush hour. It wouldn't be worth it, IMO, to maneuver among 18-wheelers to the far left lane, only to ride a few miles, and fight traffic again to get across another three lanes to make your exit. The major conjested areas on 85 are I-385 to Pelham Road, which is only several miles, and then I-185 to Hwy 153, which is only a few miles. Maybe it would get people passing through to use it, but I can't see that really alleviating much of the problem.

I'd rather see Greenville just get 8 lanes from Woodruff Road/I-385 to Highway 14 on Interstate 85.

385 seems to be a more ideal setup for such a system in Greenville. For now, I'd rather just see 6 lanes connecting the the two other portions of 6 lanes in Greenville County (in Simpsonville and Greenville proper).

[sonofaque86]

I think that would be good for I-26 in Columbia with other improvements to malfunction junction near the Harbison/Piney Grove exit. Other than that I-20 and I-77/277 aren't as bad.

[CarolinaSouth]

sonofaque86, on Jul 21 2008, 07:12 PM, said:

I think that would be good for I-26 in Columbia with other improvements to malfunction junction near the Harbison/Piney Grove exit. Other than that I-20 and I-77/277 aren't as bad.

I agree with I-26 being the first priority...but I-20 is a close 2nd because those to interstates feed each other commute patterns. I can remember coming from Chapin in the morning trying to get to downtown on I-26 and running right into some back morning traffic and all Columbia residents know how bad it can be on the way back home after work. I-20 get's just as bad....in 2 patches of the road. The area of the I-26 interchanges and the Broad River exit cause traffic to slow to a crawl all the way just past the North Main exit. It's been plenty of times on not going anywhere because of this.  The other patch is right after the Alpine rd/ Ft. Jackson exit/interchange for I-77....unlike the other areas....this is the section where I-20 slims back to 2 lanes heading toward Clemson Rd. Traffic is horrible trying to get to that exit and Spears Creek Church Rd and will only get worse as more developments spring up in that area. I agree about I-77....the traffic isn't bad but it will get worse in the next decade with the growth of Blythewood, Killian Crossing being developed, Hardscrabble and Farrow rd developments and etc.

I still am not to thrilled about them using Charleston as the model for this...but i understand their reasoning since Charleston has more tourist motorist than the other 2 main metros.

[sonofaque86]

Oh yeah, Killian exit is horrible at 5 PM. Cars are backed up almost done to the Farrow Road exit and it's not even that built up yet on that exit and they're already clearing land for hotels and homes off of I-77....

Anyways. Rock Hill is considering car pool lanes now on I-77

http://www.thestate....ory/479266.html

[Spartan]

I find that quite amusing, since it can only go as far as the state line, where the lanes reduce in number and quality. I'm glad Rock Hill is moving in that direction along with the other cities in this state.

[sonofaque86]

http://www.thestate....ory/485487.html

The roads being considered include I-77 in Rock Hill; I-26 in Charleston; I-385 in Greenville; and I-26, I-20 and I-126 in Columbia.

[GvilleSC]

I'd rather them save some of that money and finish 385's widening. I've never understood why it stops at Mauldin from both the North and the South...

[Spartan]

According to this articlefrom the Post & Courier, SCDOT has had some issues paying its bills lately, and that has Gov. Haley talking about "restructuring" that department. Not following SCDOT that closely, it's hard for me to say how "normal" this is. What I can say, is that I think Haley has done and is doing a piss-poor job as it relates to transportation, especially SCDOT. This so-called "restructuring" will not fix their problems. It wasn't that long ago that she had to fire the director for what effectively amounted to incompetence. We need a visionary in the Secretary's position, and in the directors position- someone who is willing to look at peer states and make reforms that will both last and that will improve the efficiency of that department.