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Contractors began work this week on realigning the busy intersection adjacent to the new Dreher High School.
For longtime homeowners who live around the Richland 1 school, the good news is only one oak tree had to be removed. And it was diseased, according to Richard Ferguson, a state Department of Transportation engineer technician.
Ferguson stood beneath one of the remaining old-growth oaks on the Dreher side of Adger on Friday and surveyed the job ahead.
“I never want to take down a tree like that,” Ferguson said. “I love trees.”
“I don’t want one piece of bark knocked off any of these” remaining trees, he said with a twinkle in his eye.
“If it happens, someone is going to answer to me.”
Ferguson and workers with Eagle Construction Co. of Newberry hope to get the construction project into full gear next week once questions about water, communication and power lines are resolved.
Last month, the state paid $137,300 to Richland 1 for 3,820 square feet of the eastern corner of Dreher’s campus. Raymond Perkins, the district’s facility construction director, told the school board the money would be deposited in an account for use in future building projects.
Reconfiguration of the intersection caused angst among some nearby residents, who endured several years of disruptions caused by property acquisition, tree removal and construction of the new school. It was built adjacent to the old building, which was demolished.
The state transportation department saw the Dreher project as an opportunity to adjust the alignment of where Devine Street, Millwood Avenue, Adger and Ott roads merge.
Once construction ended a year ago, the agency decided it could put Ott and Adger roads in a straight line. Right now, motorists headed in either direction have to veer to the right to cross Devine Street.
About 30,000 vehicles pass through the intersection daily, the state transportation department says. The agency expects to spend about $250,000 on the project, which is supposed to be finished in early August, well ahead of the start of the next school year Aug. 18.
Herbie Wates, a foreman with Eagle Construction, called the job “pretty simple” but because it involves “a high-traffic area, it would kick it up a bit.”
David Bajo of Kline Street walked his dog along Adger Road on Friday and said he was pleased only one tree was sacrificed.
“I do appreciate it,” the USC English professor said. “I know a lot of my neighbors were upset with all the trees that had to be taken down.”
Reach Robinson at (803) 771-8482.
