Final road projects approved for proposed Lexington County penny sales tax. Here’s the list
The list is now set for $450 million worth of road projects that Lexington County voters will be asked to fund this fall.
The six-member commission drawing up the proposal for a countywide penny sales tax committed to fund about 170 projects, including several multi-road packages, based on rankings of all submitted projects drawn up by Alliance Consulting Engineers.
More than 200 other projects could be funded if the sales tax ends up raising additional funds over its seven-year life span. If the penny tax ultimately falls short of its expected target, the entity that nominated a road for penny funds, either Lexington County or one of its municipal governments, would be expected to make up the shortfall on the top selected projects.
Despite some discussion, the final rankings did not change from the list considered at the previous commission meeting last week.
The top-ranked projects include at least $109.6 million in countywide repaving projects. The top three repaving packages could get underway as soon as next year, the commission was told, and roads from differently ranked groups could be paved in the same area at once.
The largest standalone project among the top-ranked is widening and repaving Longs Pond Road, at an estimated cost of $64 million.
The speed with which work could begin depends on if Lexington County issues bonds early on to start work, and then repays the bonds from the penny tax revenue. That decision would have to be taken up separately by Lexington County Council.
Engineers estimate that work on 6 miles of Longs Pond Road would include 15 to 18 months of design work, followed by a similar period of right-of-way acquisition and a two-to-three year construction phase.
Last week, the commission decided to bypass one of Lexington County’s busiest roads. Commissioners decided the cost of widening U.S. 378 would crowd out too many other projects under consideration, some of which might help alleviate traffic on the cross-county thoroughfare.
In November, Lexington County voters will be asked to vote on the creation of a countywide penny sales tax along with the proposed list of road projects the tax would fund.
The volunteer commission — appointed by Lexington County Council and the town of Lexington — is tasked with drawing up the final list for voters to approve on Election Day.
A similar effort was defeated at the ballot box in 2014, and the county abandoned efforts for a second try in 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Many of the projects considered in that 2014 effort appear on the list again this year.
The commission will meet at least one more time on May 12 to formulate the language for the ballot question, including how the lengthy project list will appear to voters.
This story was originally published May 2, 2022 at 9:12 AM.
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