- [Lauren] The Woodruff Road Congestion Relief Project is bounded by Woodruff Road, Salters Road, and south of I-85 from Carolina Point Parkway to Smith Hines Road. Multiple large shopping centers in the area generate a high volume of traffic. In addition, multiple SCDOT and City of Greenville infrastructure projects have recently been completed or are currently underway in the area. Greenville-Pickens Area Transportation Study, or GPATS, and SCDOT have identified the need to alleviate traffic congestion along Woodruff Road. The purpose of the project is to improve operational efficiency and alleviate traffic congestion on Woodruff Road to improve mobility in the busy commercial area between I-385 and Roper Mountain Road/Verdae Boulevard. Multiple traffic studies have been conducted to support the need and document the existing traffic conditions. Due to federal funding, the project must comply with the National Environmental Policy Act, or NEPA. To ensure that the purpose and need of the project are addressed in compliance with NEPA, SCDOT evaluated potential impacts to the surrounding human and natural environments and analyzed multiple alternatives. Primary factors analyzed included how each alternative addressed traffic operations, impacts to environmental resources, such as streams and wetlands, which alternatives required the fewest relocations of residences or businesses, the amount of new right-of-way needed to construct the project, and finally, the cost to construct each alternative. 17 preliminary alternatives were developed and analyzed. Through an intensive screening process, five reasonable build alternatives were further developed and analyzed, and alternative 6C was ultimately selected as the Preferred Alternative. The five reasonable alternatives, including the Preferred Alternative, are outlined in this tab. More information on each alternative, and project impacts can be found on the Alternatives tab on the main project web page. Alternative 6C was selected as the Preferred Alternative because it provided the greatest level of traffic improvements, while impacting the second fewest number of businesses and had lower project costs. The Preferred Alternative has an estimated cost of $121 million. It would result in 40 commercial or business relocations or displacements, two residential relocations, and 40 acres of right-of-way acquisition. It would also impact 1,050 linear feet of streams and 0.15 acre of wetlands. The project display, which can be accessed by clicking on the link provided in this tab, provides details of the proposed design and typical roadway sections for the Preferred Alternative. Let's take a look a closer look at Preferred Alternative 6C. This alternative would provide a new, five-lane limited-access alternate parallel route to Woodruff Road that extends from Verdae Boulevard to Smith Hines Road at the Woodruff Road intersection, while improving numerous intersections and access points along Woodruff Road. The new roadway would consist of four travel lanes with a median, curb and gutter, a sidewalk, a multiuse path, and two new bridge crossings at I-85 and I-385. The proposed parallel route would be an extension of the new Piedmont Natural Gas Connector, now named the Woodruff Road Bypass, as shown on the display. This display shows the preferred alternative, which extends from Verdae Boulevard to Smith Hines Road at its intersection with Woodruff Road. At the western end of the project, the existing Woodruff Road Bypass would be widened from two to four lanes from Verdae Boulevard to Industrial Lane as part of the Preferred Alternative new location route. The three existing roundabouts along Woodruff Road Bypass at Verdae Boulevard, Ketron Court, and Green Heron Road will be widened to accommodate the new location of the roadway. The existing Woodruff Road Bypass and other existing roads improved along the corridor are shown in light gray. The black indicates new pavement for widening. The new location route would include four travel lanes with a sidewalk on one side, as indicated by the white, and a multiuse pathway on the other side, indicated by pink, curb and gutter, and a planted or raised concrete median from Verdae Boulevard to Smith Hines Road. The green indicates the planted median and the red indicates the concrete median. Roundabouts are proposed at the various intersections along the new location of the roadway, including Industrial Lane, Carolina Point Parkway, Market Point Drive, Miller Road, Thousand Oaks Boulevard, and Smith Hines Road, as shown in the red and black on the display. The new roundabouts will mimic the three existing roundabouts that are being widened along Woodruff Road Bypass. Bridges are proposed over I-85 and I-385, as shown in purple on the display. A new driveway will also be constructed to connect the new location roadway to Cascades Verdae. A few minor improvements will also occur on Woodruff Road, including the addition of a concrete island between Ketron Court and Green Heron Road to control access, as shown on the top of the display. Intersection improvements are also proposed at Verdae Boulevard, Ketron Court, Green Heron Road, Industrial Lane, Miller Road, and Smith Hines Road. As indicated by the crosshatch pattern, portions of Carolina Point Parkway and Miller Road will be removed and realigned to accommodate the new roadway and roundabouts at those intersections. Portions of Smith Hines Road will also be removed and realigned. This alternative also includes tying into Thousand Oaks Boulevard and widening it to four travel lanes with a planted median so it becomes part of the new alternate roadway. The far-right side of the display shows typical cross sections for the proposed new five-lane roadway configuration. Each section of roadway includes a sidewalk on one side and a multiuse path on the other. The top typical cross section shows the roadway segment from Verdae Boulevard to Carolina Point Parkway, and Market Point Drive to Smith Hines Road, which includes four travel lanes and a planted median. The typical cross section in the middle shows the proposed roadway configuration from Carolina Point Parkway to Market Point Drive, which includes the four travel lanes with a concrete median. The typical cross section on the bottom shows the proposed configuration of the new location roadway from Smith Hines Road to Woodruff Road. That small section of roadway includes four travel lanes and a 15-foot-wide middle turn lane. At your convenience, please click on the link to download the display and view the proposed design more closely.