SCDOT, GPATS, City of Greenville Announce Preferred Plan for Woodruff Road
GREENVILLE, S.C. (July 7, 2020) -- The South Carolina Department of Transportation (SCDOT) today launched a public hearing online for the Woodruff Road Congestion Relief Project. The public hearing website provides information on the preferred alternative for the Woodruff Road project and is available to receive public comment through August 7. The hearing can be accessed by visiting www.fixwoodruffroad.com.
SCDOT is conducting the public hearing online instead of hosting it in person to help protect the health and safety of the public while keeping the project planning on schedule. The hearing is an important step in the project's planning process, enabling the public to make comments about the preferred alternative that's been developed to best alleviate traffic congestion along Woodruff Road.
The hearing website provides easy access to project displays, informative videos and other materials about the project the public would normally receive at an in-person hearing, and it offers the opportunity for the public to ask questions and provide formal comment for the project record.
"With the current congestion along Woodruff Road, further compounded by growth trends, it is important for the community that we move forward with an effective solution," said SCDOT Project Manager Casey Lucas. "This project has been ranked by local officials as their highest road project priority. The public hearing is one of the critical and last preliminary design steps, and we encourage the public to engage in this process."
The proposed project design consists of an alternate route to Woodruff Road that extends three miles from Verdae Boulevard/Roper Mountain Road to Smith Hines Road. The new alternate roadway would include four 12-foot wide travel lanes with a raised or planted median, curb and gutter, a five-foot wide sidewalk on one side, and a 10-foot wide multiuse path on the other. It also would include two new bridge crossings at I-85 and I-385. Roundabouts are proposed at various intersections to improve traffic flow.
Planning for the project began in 2017 and has included several periods of formal and informal public input to refine the project design. Public involvement helped the project team narrow an original set of 17 alternatives to five reasonable alternatives. The preferred alternative was then selected by comparing the estimated costs, impacts on traffic and natural resources, right-of-way needs and other factors of those five alternatives.
The preferred alternative for the project will cost an estimated $121 million and will be paid for with Greenville-Pickens Area Transportation Study (GPATS) guideshare funding through SCDOT and the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). SCDOT estimates that construction will begin in 2024.
For those with limited access to the Internet or with special accommodations who would like to receive printed copies of the public hearing materials, please contact:
Casey Lucas
SCDOT Project Manager
803-737-1087
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Media Contact:
Casey Lucas
SCDOT Project Manager
803-737-1087