PICKENS COUNTY, S.C. (WSPA) – Pickens County was awarded $44.7 million from the South Carolina Transportation Infrastructure Bank for safety enhancements on SC Hwy 183.
Pickens County Administrators said this is the largest grant in the county’s history.
According to Pickens County Administrators, SC Hwy 183 in Pickens County is the busiest road in the county with the most accidents over the years.
The Pickens County Administrator, Ken Roper, said the total project to widen the road and incorporate turning where necessary costs $95 million. The county needed $44.7 million in grant money from the South Carolina Transportation Infrastructure Bank in order to move forward with the plans of making SC Hwy 183.
“It closes the funding gap for where we have fully funded now between local, state, and federal dollars without having to ask for taxpayers to pitch in,” said Roper.
Roper has lived in Pickens his entire life and has seen how drivers are impacted by the road conditions.
“It’s a two-lane road in Pickens County and it doesn’t need to be a two-lane road. It’s way too much traffic. You can imagine trying to turn out onto 183 is a hazard. You can also imagine trying to turn off of 183 onto a smaller road, a feeder road is also very dangerous and very frustrating, very nerve-wracking,” said Roper.
Now that the county has the funding to fix the road issues, engineers and flagmen will be out on the roads in the Spring of 2024, marking and surveying water lines to locate where they should widen the road. County Administrators say this process can take up to 18 months for this portion of the process.
“In terms of when people can expect to see actual dirt getting turned, project physically kicking off, you’re probably talking about going into 2027, beginning of 2028 from when that would start because this was not on SDOT radar initially,” said Roper.
Pickens County Administration is requesting citizens to report any other road issues within the county. To do that, click here.
