Date Published: June 30, 2006   

Infrastructure Bank doles out money for highway projects

By SEANNA ADCOX
Associated Press Writer

The state Infrastructure Bank decided Friday to loan the South Carolina Department of Transportation $93 million to begin widening a deadly, two-lane stretch of U.S. Highway 17 through the Lowcountry.

Bank committee members spent most of the day trying to determine how to divide $300 million among $1.3 billion in projects. They learned Friday that cost estimates had risen more than $200 million.

"The dramatic increase in the cost of construction made the decisions difficult," said bank Chairman Don Leonard.

The committee rated the U.S. Highway 17 project its top priority due to safety issues. At least 34 people have died on the 22-mile stretch of mostly two-lane road from Gardens Corner to Jacksonboro during the past nine years. The highway in the main route heading south from Charleston.

Providing a loan meant the bank still had $300 million for other projects. The loan will widen the highway's most dangerous section, about 5.5 miles long, as a first phase. The Transportation Department has until Sept. 1 to award construction contracts.

The bank decided to spend up to $144 million to buy right of way and pay for design on projects in Horry and Charleston counties. Buying property now is crucial in the fast-growing coastal areas, committee members said.

"Every day it costs more," said Tee Hooper, chairman of the Transportation Commission. "If we wait, somebody else will buy the land and put a condominium on it."

The bank gave Horry County $40 million for the final leg of the Carolina Bays Parkway south of Myrtle Beach and the widening of Highway 707. That money is contingent on Horry County voters approving an extra penny local sales tax for road projects this fall.

Charleston County will receive $99 million to buy land to extend Interstate 526, also called the Mark Clark Expressway, from West Ashley over Johns Island to James Island. Voters there have already approved a half-cent sales tax for roads.

The bank will give Mount Pleasant up to $5 million to buy land at the intersection of Interstate 526 and U.S. Highway 17.

The committee also approved giving Aiken County $30 million to help cover cost increases in the Palmetto Parkway project, the Interstate 520 loop around Augusta, Ga., and North Augusta. The county had requested $50 million.

Anderson County withdrew its project application.

The bank allocated no money for a port access road off Interstate 26 in Charleston County, but committee members said the project will get done. Sen. Hugh Leatherman, R-Florence, said the access road is definitely a state responsibility.

The allocations left $126 million in the bank. Committee members said current projects will get funded, at today's cost estimates, before they look at any new ones.