County takes step toward securing Highway 246 widening funds
Officials have moved toward securing about $38 million for the widening of S.C. Highway 246 South as part of the Capital Project Sales Tax projects.
Greenwood County’s voters in 2016 approved the county spending nearly $12 million of the CPST funds toward the estimated $50 million widening project.
The decision not to fund the entire project through the CPST was by design, County Manager Toby Chappell said at a called County Council meeting Thursday. Instead, the county is seeking a grant from the state Transportation Infrastructure Bank, but first council needed to address some concerns the bank had about the grant application.
The bank wanted to know how Greenwood County will pay for the pre-construction costs of the project, estimated at about $6 million, and how the county will deal with any additional costs if there’s any unexpected increase in the project’s price tag.
The resolution council gathered Thursday to vote on would allow them to move funds from an upcoming collection for the North Greenwood Industrial Park project to the highway widening to cover the $6 million — then replace those funds when the county is refunded part of that cost. This would allow the county to pay the $6 million cost before the highway project’s first fund collection in October.
In the event that the price tag unexpectedly increased, the resolution explains that Greenwood County currently has zero debt and a $15.2 million bonding capacity. Chappell said this will explain to the infrastructure bank that Greenwood County has the financial strength to handle unexpected costs.
County Engineer Rob Russian said this grant is the best probability of funding the $38 million needed for this project and said he’s confident in the county’s application. The bank also has enough money allocated to fund all 11 projects currently being considered, he said. County council unanimously approved the resolution, allowing officials to address the bank’s concerns over the application.
The highway widening will cover 4 miles of Highway 246 South, stretching from Highway 221 in Coronaca to about Highway 702. This stretch of highway includes truck traffic for several industries and industrial projects, such as Teijin, Ascend Performance Materials, Fujifilm, Lonza, Enviva, Medtronic and Velux, as well as traffic from residents in the area and daily commuters.
Currently, the highway carries about 7,200 vehicles per day, the resolution said, and is estimated to carry more than 10,000 by 2045.
The January collection for the Capital Projects Sales Tax came in at $2,422,793, stemming from sales in August, September and October. It marks a more than $10,000 increase from the previous quarter, according to numbers provided on the county’s website.
Collections for the Highway 246 widening project won’t happen until October, but the county is moving funds from an upcoming collection in April to begin paying up-front costs on the project.
Originally Published by Index-Journal on:Jan 31, 2020
By DAMIAN DOMINGUEZ ddominguez@indexjournal.com