Resurfacing Will Affect Main Street For Weeks
March 6, 2008
By CHRIS TRAINOR
Index-Journal staff writer
Greenwood, SC - Traffic was backed up, with cars at a standstill. Electronic boards directed cars from one lane to the next.
Drivers, red-faced and mumbling to themselves, looked at their watches as they wondered whether they were going to make it back to work on time.
No, it wasn’t downtown Atlanta. It was Wednesday afternoon in Uptown Greenwood.
Satterfield Construction crews, which are contracted by the South Carolina Department of Transportation, were hard at work Wednesday afternoon as road work continued on Main Street in Greenwood. |
Workers with Satterfield Construction, who have been contracted by the South Carolina Department of Transportation, mill portions of Main Street Tuesday afternoon in Greenwood. According to city officials, road work will continue for the next two to three weeks -- and then a crosswalk project will affect traffic for weeks. (Staff photo by Chris Trainor) |
According to city officials, the crews will be milling, patching and resurfacing Main Street for the two to three weeks. The stretch of road being worked on runs from Seaboard Avenue down to Court Avenue.
Assistant city manager Charlie Barrineau said, once the SCDOT resurfacing is completed, even more extensive work will begin Uptown.
“Once DOT is finished, we will begin construction on the decorative crosswalks,” Barrineau said. “These will be the crosswalks (that will cross Main Street) at Maxwell, Court and Oak.”
Barrineau said Chandler Construction will be handling that work, which will take at least 60 days.
That crosswalk project is being paid for, in part, with a transportation enhancement grant the city was awarded in 2006. Barrineau said SCDOT’s Marion Carnell and the Greenwood legislative delegation helped secure that grant.
Barrineau talked about the goal of the crosswalk project.
“Our goal is to increase safety for those pedestrians crossing from the eastern to western part of the square, and vice versa,” Barrineau said. “We don’t want to discourage traffic through Uptown, but we do want to slow it down.”
Part of the project will be installing LED crosswalk displays, which tell pedestrians when and when not to cross the street. These will be placed on lamppost-style pillars.
Also, sections of asphalt will reportedly be cut to add in decorative brick to designate crosswalk space.
Barrineau said drivers should expect some traffic congestion during the crosswalk project.
“This is all about continuing to put a fresh face on Uptown,” Barrineau said.