Completion of S.C. 707 construction delayed until 2018

The widening of S.C. 707 was hampered by historical amounts of rain in October plus an annoying cycle of spring downpours that will delay the final opening date of the new five-lane highway until 2018.

“As soon as we dried out, it rained again,” said Kimwood Partenheimer, senior project manager for Parsons Brinckerhoff, the engineering firm in charge of the project.

Construction was originally slated for completion in August 2017, but officials say weather delays plus a longer process than anticipated to relocate utilities pushed that timeline back about five months.

Neither the completion delay nor the traffic congestion caused by construction and other seasonal trappings -- tourists in the summer and school buses in fall and winter -- come as a surprise to those living along the route.

“We mostly wish it would be done as soon as possible,” said Al Jordan, president of the Greater Burgess Community Association.

Motorists are grumbling about daily construction delays -- traffic brought to a standstill for five-minute periods several times during daylight hours and intermittent lane closures at night -- but Jordan said engineers have met numerous times with local residents to brief them on what to expect.

“If you live on 707 the level of aggravation would be higher and patience would be worn down by now, but nobody expected this to just magically appear,” Jordan said. “But look, we understand that there’s no way in the world you can do a highway project over nine miles long by magically putting it down and not causing any inconvenience, so we get that.”

Frank Holmes, who lives near the 707 Mini Mart, said he’s not so concerned with traffic backups, so much as he’s aggravated by construction workers who block his driveway with parked trucks.

“Once it’s finished, I think it will be good,” Holmes said.

Project engineers acknowledge that traffic can be terrible during certain times of the day, which was compounded by the closing of Enterprise Road for construction work on S.C. 31, pouring that traffic onto the already congested S.C. 707.

“It’s going to be painful for a while, but when it’s done, it will be so much better,” Partenheimer said.

Although the project was hampered by weather and delayed by utility relocation, construction has progressed at a steady pace and is picking up speed at the southern end of the road where the second bridge will be constructed over Collins Creek in 2016.

Where the new road appears to be encroaching on life in neighborhoods already hugging the highway before construction began, looks can be deceiving, engineers said.

The bridge across Mill Creek currently swerves into the front yard of a trailer park across from Friendship Lane, but that ramp is only temporary and will soon be shifted onto the new northbound road where forms are under construction and concrete soon will be placed.

When that new bridge is finished in 2016, the current southbound lane of traffic next to the trailers will be shifted farther away from the trailer park.

Numerous sound walls towering nine to eleven feet above the roadway will divide housing developments and trailer parks from nearby traffic, including Inlet Estates where construction work is encroaching on one backyard swimming pool. That’s where the existing road is so narrow, it looks like engineers will be threading a needle to build an even wider road into Georgetown County.

A significant change residents will see in late 2016 is the elimination of the crosswalk in front of St. James High School -- a dangerous path to travel when the road widens to five lanes. Instead, students will have to walk a block to Salem Road and cross at the red light.

However, parents will soon be getting easier access to St. James Middle and Elementary Schools as a larger capacity left turn lane will be constructed in 2016.

Meanwhile, construction along the S.C. 31 extension that includes several bridges also experienced slowdowns during rainy weather, but transportation officials say it is not expected to affect their time line for completion.

“Steady rain can actually help it, but a monsoon will start to wash it out,” said Michael Cook, construction inspector for Mead and Hunt on S.C. 31.

S.C. 31 hasn’t been delayed because constructing five bridges along the extension has not required the extensive relocation of numerous utility lines including water, power, sewer and communications with which other county projects have been forced to reckon.

The S.C. 707 project began in October 2014 to widen the existing two-lane road to five lanes for a nine-mile stretch between Enterprise Road and the Georgetown County line. Plans also call for a redesigned intersection at S.C. 707 and U.S. 17 Bypass in Georgetown County for two left turn lanes, one through lane, a right turn lane, and two lanes onto 707 from the bypass.

The total cost is estimated at $100 million to $105 million and is funded by the one cent sales tax that was in effect from 2007 through April 2015, said Lisa Bourcier, Horry County spokeswoman.

The S.C. 31 project is funded by federal and state dollars at an estimated cost of $225 million to $237 million -- $225 million comes from the state’s Transportation Infrastructure Bank, $2 million in federal earmarked funds and $10 million from the American Recovery and Investment Act for shovel-ready projects, Bourcier said.

When completed in 2017, the multi-lane freeway with a grass median will extend four miles from its current end at S.C. 544 to connect with S.C. 707, and have five bridges including a new structure over the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway.

Even though S.C. 31 is cutting a new highway, some motorists are still being affected by construction. Enterprise Road will remain closed until June, and traffic will be stopped along S.C. 707 at night to set bridge beams above the road, said Travis Patrick, resident construction engineer with the state transportation department.

As both construction projects progress more rapidly in 2016, one engineer summed up what’s in store for motorists:

“We can limit that to one word, gridlock,” Partenheimer said.

Hudson can be reached at 843-444-1765

Twitter: @AudreyHudson

This story was originally published January 2, 2016 at 4:00 AM with the headline "Completion of S.C. 707 construction delayed until 2018."