Federal funding to help resurface Pee Dee roads

By Charles Tomlinson
Morning News Reporter
Published: September 19, 2008

The S.C. Department of Transportation has received nearly $21.6 million in federal funding that will help road projects in Dillon, Florence and Marlboro counties move forward this fall.

The resurfacing and bridge replacement funding requires a 20-percent state match, bringing the total for the projects to about $27 million, SCDOT announced Thursday.

The funding will go toward the following Pee Dee resurfacing projects, among a total of 27 statewide:

• Dillon — Martin Luther King Boulevard from Radford Boulevard to West Main Street (1.3 miles)

• Florence — Cheves Street from East Palmetto Street to Church Street (about one mile)

• Bennettsville — Country Club Road, Woodland Drive and Potato House Road from East Main Street to North Marlboro Street (1.8 miles)

“I applaud our secretary of transportation and the staff at SCDOT for being ready at the helm with these projects now that we have additional federal funding,” Marvin Stevenson, SCDOT commissioner for the 6th Congressional District, said in a press release. “It’s good to see needed projects move forward here in the Pee Dee region.”

The funding also will apply to projects in Allendale, Horry, Lexington, Orangeburg, Richland and Spartanburg counties.

The SCDOT Commission already has approved the projects, which have met the criteria on the priority list for road improvements, according to the department.

The commission on Thursday approved the remainder of the funding to go toward 19 off-system bridge replacement projects in seven counties once the resurfacing is complete, according to an SCDOT press release.

The additional federal money became available to SCDOT earlier this month. The Federal Highway Administration, based on actual revenues entering its Federal Highway Trust Fund, adjusts states’ funding levels every August or September so that highway program funding reflects the actual and anticipated revenues entering the trust fund, according to SCDOT.