Road projects moving along in Florence County

The results of Florence County’s one cent sales tax referendum are beginning to become visible.

Voters passed the referendum in November of 2006, and it went into effect in May of 2007.

The tax will last for a maximum of seven years, and will fund several different road projects across the county.

Those projects include the widening of Highway 378 from US 52 near Lake City to SC 41 in Kingsburg, the widening US 76 from I-95 to Main Street in Timmonsville, the widening of Pine Needles Road from Southborough Road to South Ebenezer Road and the construction of a new bridge over I-95, the widening of TV Road to four lanes from Wilson Road to I-95, the widening SC 51 from Claussen Road to US 378 in Kingsburg and the completion of the 301 bypass from US 76 near Timmonsville to the intersection of US 52/301 and Howe Springs Road.

The referendum will fund all of those projects, but perhaps none received as much attention as the Pine Needles Road project.

“There’s a lot of homes and stuff like that, there’s a lot of traffic in that area, you have two schools, a couple of daycares and there’s also very large subdivisions back there,“ said Christopher Coleman Construction recently began on the widening of the road, and crews are already working on a new bridge that will accommodate the increasing traffic flow.

Transportation officials say all of the projects are proof that Florence County is growing at a rapid pace and the roads, will have to keep up.

“I see Florence growing fairly quickly. I see more traffic on the roads each day, so these projects that are funded through the one cent sales tax, will help ease a lot of that congestion through Florence and maybe provide some bypasses going around the congested areas,“ Coleman said.

Transportation officials anticipate that it will take several years to complete all of the projects but they say once finished, they will provide Florence County residents with a much easier commute.

Preliminary design work has begun on the TV Road project and a contract for engineering services was completed for the widening of the Lynches River Bridge on US 378.

Coleman says the US 378 widening project will be the next to begin to take shape, which is scheduled to start in 2010.