Singleton Ridge widening, two other Conway road projects pitched for RIDE III

Before Al Beck opened Coffee Nerd on Singleton Ridge Road last month, he knew about the artery’s reputation for traffic congestion.

Beck’s coffee shop sits near Conway’s malfunction junction: the place where Singleton Ridge and William Finlayson roads intersect near Technology Boulevard.

The awkward fork is often described as one of Conway’s most dangerous intersections because of the number of wrecks there, but it’s also a bottleneck for traffic near Conway Medical Center.

“I see the ambulance get caught up here,” Beck said. “It worries me. I wouldn’t want to be the guy waiting in the ambulance.”

City officials had considered building a roundabout at the problematic intersection, but they put those plans on hold late last year amid concerns that the traffic circle wouldn’t work with other proposed construction projects.

Now Horry County Councilman Johnny Vaught wants to widen Singleton Ridge to three lanes from U.S. 501 to S.C. 544.

“We’ve got to fix that,” he said. “There’s no choice.”

The project is part of a road-building package Vaught presented to Conway City Council on Monday night. He maintains his proposal would alleviate the slog of traveling through some of the city’s busiest thoroughfares.

Along with widening Singleton Ridge, Vaught wants to see S.C. 905 expanded to five lanes from Inlet Drive to Highway 19 and U.S. 378 widened to five lanes from Stalvey Road to Antioch Road.

The new projects would cost about $88.2 million and Vaught wants city leaders to request that they be added to RIDE III, a $590 million list of road-building projects being developed by a special sales tax commission.

Once commissioners develop a complete list of projects – their deadline for doing this is May 17 – Horry County Council will give an up-or-down vote on the program. If approved, the projects will then go to the voters, who have the final say on whether the one percent sales tax should pay for that work. Should the referendum pass, the tax collection would begin on May 1, 2017.

The RIDE III commission currently has two Conway projects on its list: extending El Bethel Road from U.S. 378 to U.S. 701 South and widening U.S. 701 North from S.C. 319 to S.C. 22.

Vaught is recommending that the city tell its representative on the commission to request that the El Bethel project be removed from the list and the U.S. 701 North widening be limited to the area from S.C. 319 to the S.C. Department of Transportation office.

Vaught insists the El Bethel extension isn’t needed because traffic on that road would be light and the U.S. 701 North widening only makes sense up to the DOT office. After that point – which is beyond the HTC office and the county jail – he said the traffic clears.

Those changes would save $55.8 million, meaning the commission would have to find an additional $32.4 million to cover the three Conway proposals.

The new projects address legitimate needs, Vaught said, and they benefit the most people – which is the intent of the RIDE program.

“We have to stand up as a city and reach out for our share,” he told council members. “I don’t think you got a fair shake in the original request. I think we can do better than that.”

City officials seemed amenable to Vaught’s proposal, though they said they wanted to discuss the concept further and possibly make changes to the county leader’s design.

“You make all kinds of compelling arguments,” Mayor Barbara Blain-Bellamy said. “You’ve certainly gotten our attention.”

Councilman Tom Anderson concurred.

“You’ve done a great job on your homework,” he said.

Anderson, however, noted that he still sees a need for the El Bethel extension.

After October’s flood, Anderson said he’d hoped the perimeter road infrastructure could be designed to move water away from the development near Conway’s Wal-Mart.

Perhaps, he said, RIDE III could pay for right-of-way acquisition for the project, looking ahead to the future.

Vaught said he’s willing to negotiate with the city; he just wants to ensure Conway receives more RIDE projects than it has in previous programs.

“Conway has not gotten a very large piece of the pie in the last two RIDE projects,” he said. “It’s been basically sort of almost the red-headed step-child.”

At Coffee Nerd, Beck wonders how the road construction on Singleton Ridge might impact his business.

“Very little bothers me except the closure of my driveway,” he said. “That’s all I care about.”

The owner was relieved to learn that none of the proposed work on Singleton Ridge would effect his sign or building, though he worries about getting lost in a sea of orange cones.

Then again, he said, construction workers drink coffee, too.

This story was originally published February 1, 2016 at 5:11 PM with the headline "Singleton Ridge widening, two other Conway road projects pitched for RIDE III."