Spartanburg Long-Range Transportation Plan (2025)

[spartanburgh]

Thanks for the link Spartan, I have sent my letter of support for the plan.

[huck94]

Here's my two-cents I emailed to Penny Phillips at the SCDOT:

As a life-long resident of Boiling Springs, seeing the plan for the SC 9 project with landscaped medians, sidewalks, and bike lanes makes me proud as a resident. It seems there is much dissent from folks wanting to, basically, lay down a stretch of asphalt with nothing more. I know the term money talks and I

[Spartan]

That is a great email, huck!

[Spartan]

SCDOT is holding a public meeting for what they are now calling "Matthew Perry Parkway" which would connect Bomar/Collins Ave to Southport Rd. Estimated project cost is $1.4 million. This seems like a no-brainer to me.

HJ Article

[Sparkleman]

SCDOT is holding a public meeting for what they are now calling "Matthew Perry Parkway" which would connect Bomar/Collins Ave to Southport Rd. Estimated project cost is $1.4 million. This seems like a no-brainer to me.

HJ Article

How does this benefit anyone?

[Spartan]

How does it not?

It provides access to that neighborhood that gets cut off by the train tracks (Jackson St) in addition to other neighborhoods on the Southside, it opens up land for development, it increases connectivity, and increases access to parts of town that are notoriously difficult to access.

[roads-scholar]

How does it not?

It provides access to that neighborhood that gets cut off by the train tracks (Jackson St) in addition to other neighborhoods on the Southside, it opens up land for development, it increases connectivity, and increases access to parts of town that are notoriously difficult to access.

Long term, I see where this road could be extended south of SC-295 linking up to Carolina Country Club Road.

[Spartan]

I'd like to see a more direct connection from E Blackstock Rd to Southport Rd in the vicinity of the Airport. That would relieve a significant amount of congestion on Reidville Rd.

[roads-scholar]

I'd like to see a more direct connection from E Blackstock Rd to Southport Rd in the vicinity of the Airport. That would relieve a significant amount of congestion on Reidville Rd.

I agree but this was idea was discussed publicly in 2000 / 2001. Residents in the area were adamantly opposed to such a connection.

[Spartan]

Interesting. What were there reasons for opposition?

[roads-scholar]

Interesting. What were there reasons for opposition?

The general idea was for a connector to be built between Anderson Mill Road and Southport Road (SC-295) via Blackstock Road (SC-215) and I-26. At the time it seemed like a logical solution to alleviate traffic from Reidville Road. Folks living near Anderson Mill Road objected ostensibly because a road would have destroyed the rural character of the area. As it turned out the decision was made to widen Reidville Road.

Personally, I felt that an I-26 connection to Southport Road could have been made via Old Georgia Road. This could eventually happen.

Edited February 8, 2010 by roads-scholar

[travey]

I would love to see electric trolley's or European style trams on Reidville Road and Main ST. Put them in the middle turn lane. Yes, we would loose some "Spots o Pride" People could park and ride, buy monthly passes.

Reidville Road is again in horrible shape from the light at Crescent rd. to Main ST. I know the cost of paving is high, and will have to been done over and over and over.

A local tram system, could bring people back downtown. Heck, I'd pay a buck to ride to East side or downtown... Business could pop-up all along the way. The zoning is already in place on these main streets... Talk about Neighborhood infill? Giving something truly unique to our city.

There may even be some federal money for going green to help finance the project.

People would want to live near the stops. Rise in real estate. Old neighborhoods become attractive again. People become healthier.... they walk a few blocks, they stroll.

Dreaming?

[roads-scholar]

I would love to see electric trolley's or European style trams on Reidville Road and Main ST. Put them in the middle turn lane. Yes, we would loose some "Spots o Pride" People could park and ride, buy monthly passes.

Reidville Road is again in horrible shape from the light at Crescent rd. to Main ST. I know the cost of paving is high, and will have to been done over and over and over.

A local tram system, could bring people back downtown. Heck, I'd pay a buck to ride to East side or downtown... Business could pop-up all along the way. The zoning is already in place on these main streets... Talk about Neighborhood infill? Giving something truly unique to our city.

There may even be some federal money for going green to help finance the project.

People would want to live near the stops. Rise in real estate. Old neighborhoods become attractive again. People become healthier.... they walk a few blocks, they stroll.

Dreaming?

Yes, but history amazingly repeats itself and one of these days trolleys in some form will return. A century ago Spartanburg had an extensive network of trolley cars.

Keep on dreamin!

Edited February 8, 2010 by roads-scholar

[Spartan]

I would love to see electric trolley's or European style trams on Reidville Road and Main ST. Put them in the middle turn lane. Yes, we would loose some "Spots o Pride" People could park and ride, buy monthly passes.

Reidville Road is again in horrible shape from the light at Crescent rd. to Main ST. I know the cost of paving is high, and will have to been done over and over and over.

A local tram system, could bring people back downtown. Heck, I'd pay a buck to ride to East side or downtown... Business could pop-up all along the way. The zoning is already in place on these main streets... Talk about Neighborhood infill? Giving something truly unique to our city.

There may even be some federal money for going green to help finance the project.

People would want to live near the stops. Rise in real estate. Old neighborhoods become attractive again. People become healthier.... they walk a few blocks, they stroll.

Dreaming?

I wish more people thought this way

Conceptually this is perfect.

Politically... well, lets just say that if we can't fund a bus system, rail wont be happening either unless Spartanburg can find a away to finance the whole thing on its own. You'd be looking at a $250-300 million+ project (just for one line, hypothetically from Crescent Dr to Hillcrest), so even with state and federal cost sharing the city/county would need to come up with 25% ($62.5 million).

Some lessons from Charlotte: About 10 years ago when they decided that they wanted to build rail here, they found out that to qualify for federal funding for rail you had to have a robust bus system so that people riding the rail would have a way to get to and from their destinations. So the first thing they did was pass a 1/2 sales tax to fund transit. That bought a ton of new busses that are cleaner and nicer to ride in (I think they are the same as the new blue SPARTA buses). Only then did the feds give the go ahead for funding the LRT. Of course, that was pre-Obama. With the way he's making it rain money on transportation it may be more feasible for a city like Spartanburg to get it done at some point.

While not in the same league as rail, another option to beautify the city's older streets is a road diet. These are streets that are to wide for the amount of traffic that they serve. They've been talking about doing one on East Main for a while (they're just waiting on SCDOT to show up with the money). Other streets that would be good candidates are Daniel Morgan Ave, Union St, and Reidville Rd (east of 295), Camelot Dr, and Fernwood-Glendale Rd (all of these streets are based off of my experience with the traffic there, not actual numbers). With a road diet you can add in planting strips and trees to separate the sidewalks from traffic (like in Converse Heights), median islands to help people cross the street, and bicycle lanes. The best part about road diets is that they are not all that expensive, and it can dramatically improve the look of a road, and thus the city just like the "spots of pride" are doing.

Speaking of Spots of Pride, now that some of them have been around a few years, they are really starting to fill out and look good.

I don't want to be a dream smasher, so for what it's worth, here is a link to a post I made about this subject several years ago.

[Jael]

Other streets that would be good candidates are Daniel Morgan Ave, Union St, and Reidville Rd (east of 295), Camelot Dr, and Fernwood-Glendale Rd (all of these streets are based off of my experience with the traffic there, not actual numbers).

Having lived off Fernwood-Glendale Road off and on since 1961 when it was a narrow 2-lane road, I sincerely hope no one takes that suggestion seriously.

[Spartan]

There's a difference between a narrow 2 lane country road and a 3 lane urban street. They essentially did the same thing to Fernwood Drive a while back, just without adding trees or median islands, and sidewalks. Functionally, it works the same, if not better, as a three lane road than it did as a 4 lane undivided road.

[travey]

In regards to the possibility of a City tram.... I wonder how much it cost to widen Reidville Road (John B white blvd.) several years ago??

I know the tram system could be costly.... but in the long run it would be an excellent investment. Let's say it is 2030. Do we even have gas anymore? DOes China have control over the oil? Just saying....

I have lived in Europe and Asia and I have found not having a car equated to more freedom, than having a car. I have friends who live in Montreal, who are car-less but can

rent one for about $20 a day , say if they need to go buy some bigger items they don't want to carry on transit.

I think the auto makers have been very savy in indoctrinating the American public into thinking a car means freedom and can define us.

We also have to pay to have downtown parking lots built. I think if Spartanburg really wants to grow and be innovative that LONG term transportation issues should be

reviewed. Let's get some corporate sponsors. A great park and ride spot could be at the East side Walmart. Walmart could sponsors that stop. You could park there and go into downtown for the afternoon. You may or may not shop at Walmart. You may have to pay a dollar to park. Circuit City on Westside could be another park and ride spot considering it is an empty parking lot.

On the note of the bus system not working, well the bus has a certain "stigma" attached. ANyone rode lately? It could be paired with the tram system and some costs could be eliminated.......

[Spartan]

I completely agree. Nothing would please me more than to see a tram/trolley/streetcar system running down East Main again. It would spur denser redevelopment along whatever route is selected. I really like your vision. The

I think that while there is a certain stigma associated with the bus, the larger problem is that it doesn't go to enough places. It's sort of a chicken and egg situation. People won't ride the bus until it goes where they need it to go, but it won't do where they need it to go until people start riding it. SPARTA is what I would call a 'skeletal' operation. They are able to serve the transit dependent, and they do that quite well... but what you are implying, travey, is catching the elusive "choice rider" -the average Spartan who could drive, but picks transit anyway.

Transit is a difficult thing in the Upstate, and I'm not sure there is a practical solution in the near term. The problem is how the land has been developed over the years. Before WW2, all of the jobs were concentrated in and around what we know as downtown, and while the population was lower, people lived in a denser city than exists today. That, combined with the lack of cars made trolleys a practical way to get around. Today, jobs are spread out along the I-85 corridor, and they all tend to be manufacturing jobs or support for that sector. There's nothing wrong with that, except that industrial employment tends to be more spread out geographically due to their space requirements. On top of that people are more spread out than they used to be. For transit to work we have to have population density in some form, be it jobs are hosuing (or both). By recruiting more non-industrial jobs downtown and picking a few other nodes where we can concentrate employment, we can mold the land uses in Spartanburg to be dense enough to support transit again.

This is sort of a round about way of saying that I don't think there are enough jobs in downtown to support a true transit system with park and rides. I could maybe see a park and ride set up in Boiling Springs and maybe the westside (like Duncan/Moore) for downtown employees.

Greenville is currently working to implement an express bus system for Simpsonville and Mauldin in to downtown. I think if they can prove that to be a successful venture, then Spartanburg may be able to look into a similar system in the future.

[hub-city]

There are a lot of roads being paved in Spartanburg right now. While that is a good thing, my hope is the traffic engineer stripes them with a little common sense. It drives me crazy to see new roads with stupid markings causing confusion. For exapmle, if you are traveling on Magnolia from the depot crossing Daniel Morgan headed to the courthouse, you have a right turn only lane with one straight lane. However when you look across, you see two straight lanes and people cross all over the place not knowing which lane to go. they could have easily put one straight lane with angled parking and solved all that.

same thing with Converse over at the CCC and First Baptist. They put the gutters in for "back-in" parking across from the FBSside , but instead put parralel parking on the FBS side, making trafiic curve all over. I've had to get out of my car and tell several little ole ladies that they are in the oncoming traffic lane.

I'm grateful for the roads, just USE SOME SENSE!!

[westsider28]

I agree. It seems like each road paving project is separate from the next, with no overall plan or guidelines. Another problem I have with Magnolia Street (near the county offices) is that the bike lanes, while nice that they're there, don't have enough clearance between them and parallel parking spaces. In other words, if someone parking opened their car door, a cyclist in the bike lane would hit the door. The newly repaved Broad Street in Greenville has extra room to account for open car doors beside the bike lane.

Basically, the problem seems to be that there isn't a comprehensive plan for these paving projects (or at least an our-roads-should-adhere-to-some-logical-standards checklist).

[Spartan]

I'm convinced a more extensive road diet is in the works for Converse St. Road diets come in many forms, but they are most easily achieved when a street is resurfaced and new striping plans can be implemented.

You can see the map of roads to be resurfaced here: HJ Map

I don't know what, if any, plans exist for these streets, but my guess is relatively little can be done in the way of restriping, except maybe on Henry St (and even that is questionable).

[westsider28]

The Henry Street repaving is essentially done now. There seems to be no change in the striping.

I agree that not much striping will change, as most of the roads they're resurfacing are large roads (and state highways).

My biggest disappointment was that Kennedy Street was resurfaced with 4 lanes and no median, as it originally was. It would've been nice to make it 2 lanes with a center turn lane and bike lanes (or even 2 lanes, no median, bike lanes, & parallel parking). That could've been accomplished with just striping changes.

[Spartan]

I agree. That street doesn't get enough traffic to need 4 lanes. We could get by with two lanes and a center turn lane along the entire street.

[roads-scholar]

The street I love to hate and one that desperately needs a diet is East Main Street between Converse and Pine. Its much too wide for the amount of traffic it carries. The city had wanted to narrow it a couple of years ago but SCDOT poo pooed the idea. I guess the "road diet" for this stretch of East Main is on hold but I hope it is narrowed.

[Spartan]

I heard that SCDOT pulled their funding on it due to budget issues, not because they didn't support it.