Long-frustrating Greenville County road among 6 area SC projects to improve safety

Help is on the way, all you weary Woodruff Road travelers stuck in traffic day after day.

That’s the good news.

The other news is construction won’t start until 2027.

The South Carolina Department of Transportation has been working on a fix for one of Greenville County’s busiest roads since 2017 and has been buying up rights of way since 2023 for a 5-lane limited-access alternate route parallel to Woodruff Road.

It will extend from Verdae Boulevard to Smith Hines Road at the Woodruff Road intersection. In addition, numerous intersections and access points on Woodruff Road will be improved.

The cost is estimated at $121 million.

It’s expected to require moving 40 commercial or business properties, two residences and require 40 acres of right-of-way acquisition. Two new bridge crossings over Interstate 85 and Interstate 385 will be built.

Other Greenville County road projects under way or planned include:

Butler Road: 1.7 miles from the Mauldin Senior Center entrance to US 276, North Main Street in Mauldin to about 1 mile south of the I-385 interchange at Butler Road in Greenville County.

The project, which is underway, involves constructing curb and gutter, a sidewalk on one side, and a multi-use path on the other, adding medians and various intersection improvements.

Wade Hampton Boulevard: An area plagued with accidents, Wade Hampton Boulevard from East Lee Road to Watson Road will see installation of concrete medians in areas with high frequency of angle collisions, installation of ADA compliant pedestrian ramps, crosswalks and countdown pedestrian signals at signalized intersections to improve pedestrian safety, upgrading signals and new sidewalks.

The cost is estimated at $2.1 million.

Roper Mountain Road extension: Another Greenville County road with increased traffic due to development of subdivisions, Roper Mountain Road will see a $12 million construction of three lanes with curb, gutter, sidewalks, and bike lanes between Pelham Road and Roper Mountain Road.

The project is expected to be completed this month.

River Street/Richardson Street in downtown Greenville: The project entails improvements from South Main Street to West Elford Street to cut down on crashes. From 2018 to 2022, there were 280 crashes reported in the area.

Being built are a two-way cycle track, traffic signals to give pedestrians a 3-to-7-second head start before motorists receive a green light, a new sidewalk, high visibility crosswalks, ADA improvements, signing and pavement markings.

The project is set to get under way this winter with a 24-month construction period.

Church Street Bridge: The aging bridge that skirts downtown Greenville is getting its long-needed improvements. Construction began earlier this year and is expected to last 2026.

Constructed in 1959, the bridge has four travel lanes, two in each direction, with a concrete median. Five-foot-wide pedestrian walkways are on each side.

The $30 million project involves replacing the lighting, painting the steel girders, joint sealing, fixing the concrete, barrier/sidewalk replacement and bridge deck rehabilitation. One side of the sidewalk will be increased to 9 feet wide from 5 feet and stairs down to McBee Street will be replaced.

Two lanes of the four-lane bridge will remain open during construction until May 1, 2026 when the deck is replaced. It will be closed for six weeks.

Average daily volume was 26,300 vehicles in 2021. DOT predicts there will be 38,000 on the road by 2039.