Editor's note: The Aiken Standard published several updates on Aiken's main road projects throughout this week. Today's article is about the Hitchcock Parkway corridor improvement project and where it stands in the City of Aiken.
Aiken City Council is reportedly ready to view and prioritize the projects that will be included in the Hitchcock Parkway corridor improvements project.
Last week, the City's Engineering and Utilities Director George Grinton told Council he met with S.C. Department of Transportation representatives, who said their engineers are ready to return to the project's design phase.
In May, the Augusta Regional Transportation Study subcommittee agreed to re-rank the Hitchcock Parkway corridor improvement project from long- to short-term as part of the Augusta Regional Transportation Study fiscal year 2015-18 transportation improvement program.
Initial plans to expand the 118 Bypass were stopped short in September 2014, after an announcement that the City was $8 million short on funds.
Grinton said SCDOT has since provided a list of project ideas that include the addition of potential turning lanes, signals, passing lanes and acceleration and deceleration lanes.
SCDOT's list of proposed ideas comes to a rough total of about $19 million, but Grinton told Council the City does not have to adopt all of the corridor improvements.
When the Bypass was on track to be widened, the total cost of the project was split three ways - $4 million from the City of Aiken, $9.6 million from the Transportation Infrastructure Bank and $13 million from the State Transportation Improvement Program. The City also requested $5 million from the County stemming from a 2010 Capital Project Sales Tax II item.
But now, Grinton said the State Transportation Improvement Program has $12 million for the project - $1 million of that cost was spent on widening plans and a consultant - and the City of Aiken has $1.6 million "on the books" from Capital Project Sales Tax round three.
Out of the state's $12 million, Grinton said $5.6 million of those funds would be designated for just street resurfacing and maintenance.
"So we have looked at a list, and what we need to do now is prioritize the improvements so that it can fit within the budget," he said.
Council member Dick Dewar took issue with the cost of the projects Monday. He said it seemed that SCDOT was "changing the rules."
"We were assured that when we made the change to corridor improvements that the $12 million (was) all we need," Dewar said. "Now they are scheming to have a $19 million cost and $5 million for repaving. We might as well forget it; we will never get that project built."
Grinton reiterated that Council did not have to choose every single proposed project suggested by SCDOT.
"There's a lot of work, and it's kind of like Christee Place," Grinton said. "You really need to define the scope before you start really doing design, and certainly before you start committing dollars. ... The good news is SCDOT is no longer constrained and cannot start design - they can start. We need to provide them with what the City of Aiken would like to see."
Grinton said he plans to present the project ideas to City Council and will look at pursuing money for the project from other areas, including the County.
Maayan Schechter is the local government reporter with Aiken Standard.
Follow her on Twitter @MaayanSchechter.