FREIGHT INFRASTRUCTURE
The Freight Infrastructure chapter captures the “supply” side of the study. It inventories and analyzes both nationally and regionally significant freight infrastructure within Spartanburg County to suggest how it is used or under-utilized in order to identify critical gaps, deficiencies and opportunities. The physical infrastructure in the county consists of interstate highways; federal and state highways; rail; and a downtown airport. The primary freight modes in Spartanburg County are truck and rail; as such the performance of the highway and rail system is critical to the movement of goods to, from and through the county. Highways & Major Roadways As shown in Figure 4 on the next page, Spartanburg County has an extensive roadway system, anchored by Interstates 26 and 85 and US Highways 29, 176 and 221. The county is served by the following interstates and US and state highways:
Interstate 26 As shown in Photo2 and Photo 3, Interstate 26 is a four lane limited access highway that provides access to Columbia, South Carolina and the Port of Charleston, South Carolina (the Unites States’ fifth busiest water-borne gateway for international travel by value in 2008) to the south and Asheville, North Carolina and Interstate 81 in Virginia to the north. Based on SCDOT’s statistics, the AADT within Spartanburg County ranges from 18,800 at US Highway 49 to 53,400 at US Highway 29, with truck percentages ranging from 15% to 20%.
Photo 1. Interstate 26, North of State Photo 2. Interstate 29 and State Highway 14 Highway 11
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Figure 1. Spartanburg County Highways and Major Roadways
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Interstate 85 As shown in Photos 5 and Photo 6, Interstate 85 is a four lane limited access highway that provides access to Charlotte, North Carolina to the east and Atlanta, Georgia to the west. Based on SCDOT’s statistics, the AADT within Spartanburg County ranges from 53,900 at State Highway 9 to 92,000 at State Highway 14, with truck percentages at 30% throughout the county.
Photo 3. Interstate 85 and US Highway 29 Photo 4. Interstate 85 and State Highway 290
US Highway 29 US Highway 29 runs concurrently with Interstate 85. It is a four lane divided highway between the western border of Spartanburg County and the western border of the City of Spartanburg and a four lane, signalized highway from the western border of Spartanburg County and he western border of the City of Spartanburg. Based on SCDOT’s statistics, the AADT within the Spartanburg County ranges from 8,800 at State Highway 296 to 33,000 at Interstate 85, with truck percentages at 10% throughout the county.
US Highway 176 As shown in Photo 7 on the next page, US Highway 176 is a four lane highway with turn-bays between the eastern border of Spartanburg County and just west of State Highway 292, where it becomes a two lane highway with limited or no shoulders to the north boundary of Spartanburg County. It provides access to Hendersonville, North Carolina to the north and Interstate 26 to the south (just north of Columbia, South Carolina). Based on SCDOT’s statistics, the AADT within Spartanburg County ranges from 6,000 at State Highway 14 to 33,400 at State Highway 29, with truck percentages at 5% throughout the county.
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Photo 5. US Highway 176, East of State Highway 295
US Highway 221 As shown in Photo 8 and Photo 9 on the next page, US Highway 221 runs concurrently with Interstate 26, crossing just south of the City of Spartanburg. It is a four lane divided highway between State Highway 101 and the southern border of the City of Spartanburg and a four lane highway with turn-bays between the southern border of Spartanburg County and State Highway 101 and north of Interstate 85 and northern boundary of Spartanburg County. Based on SCDOT’s statistics, the AADT within the Spartanburg County ranges from 5,200 at State Highway 146 to 18,600 at State Highway 56, with truck percentages at 6% throughout the county.
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Photo 6. US Highway 221, South of State Highway 290
Photo 7. US Highway 221, South of State Highway 101
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State Highway 9 State Highway 9 runs concurrently with Interstate 29 (just east of the Interstate) between the City of Spartanburg and the north boundary of Spartanburg County. It is a four lane highway with turn-bays between the City of Spartanburg and Boiling Springs and a two lane highway from Boiling Springs and the northern border of Spartanburg County. State Highway 9 provides access to US Highway 74 just east of Columbus, North Carolina.
State Highway 11 State Highway 11 runs concurrently with Interstate 85 (several miles north of the Interstate). It is a two lane highway with limited or no shoulders. State Highway11 provides access to Interstate 85 both east and west of Spartanburg County.
State Highway 14 State Highway 14 connects to Interstate 26 just south of the Spartanburg County’s northern border and SC Highway 11 just to the west of the Spartanburg County border US Highway 29. It is the major east/west roadway through Landrum, South Carolina, where it also provides access to US Highway 176.
State Highway 56 As shown in Photo 10, State Highway 56 runs concurrently with Interstate 26 (several miles east of the Interstate) from the southern border of Spartanburg County to Interstate 85. It is a two lane highway with limited or no shoulders.
Photo 8. US Highway 56, South of State Highway 215
State Highway 215 As shown in Photo 11 on the next page, State Highway 215 runs concurrently with Interstate 26 from the southern border of Spartanburg County to Interstate 85. It is a two lane highway with limited or no shoulders.
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Photo 9. State Highway 215, East of US Highway 22 Several of these facilities have been identified as currently or potentially having importance to national-level freight movement (see Figure 3 on page 13). A review of this network indicated that there is sufficient redundancy in the highway network to accommodate increased freight traffic and diversions due to incidents on major freight corridors such as Interstates 26 and 85.
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Truck Stops and Service Areas The results of the field study, as shown in Photos 12 through 15, indicated that there are a variety of truck stops and service areas along Interstates 26 and 85. Given the length of the Interstate 26 and 85 corridors and the growing role of these corridors in the context of longer haul freight traffic arriving from the Port of Charleston, South Carolina and between Atlanta, Georgia and Richmond, Virginia, these amenities provide a valuable service to drivers.
Photo 10. State Service Area at Interstate 26, South of State Highway 11
Photo 11. Truck Stop at Interstate 26 and US Photo 12. Truck Stop at Interstate 85 and Highway 176 State Highway 290
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Photo 13. Amenities at Truck Stop at Interstate 85 and State Highway 290 Railways As shown in Figure 5 on the next page, CSX (CSXT) and Norfolk Southern (NS) are the primary freight rail service providers within Spartanburg County, with short-haul providers (CPDR, GRN, and TBRY) utilizing the remaining tracks. The CSX lines run from the western border of Spartanburg County through the City of Spartanburg turning north towards Chesnee, South Carolina while another line cuts through the City of Spartanburg from the Woodruff area to the southern border of Spartanburg County. The Norfolk Southern lines cross the county from around Landrum and another line that runs from west to east through the City of Spartanburg. As shown in Figure 6 and Photo 16 and Photo 17 on the following pages, there are a number of at-grade railroad crossings throughout the county.
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Figure 2. NTAD Railroad Alignments and Owners
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Figure 3. NTAD At-Grade Railroad Crossings
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Photo 14. Railroad Crossing at US Highway 221and State Highway 146
Photo 15. Railroad Crossing at State Highway 14, East of US Highway 176
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Intermodal Facilities Although the NTAD database, as shown in Figure 7, indicates there are six (6) intermodal facilities that currently operate within Spartanburg County: Nordic Warehouse, NS Independent Bulk Transfer Terminal, Piedmont Salt Terminal, USPS-Amc-AMF, and Transflo. The field reviews of these facilities suggest that these sites provide limited intermodal opportunities for rail and truck transfers. Figure 4. NTAD Intermodal Facilities
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Airports Although the NTAD database, as shown in Figure 8, indicates there are nine (9) airports that currently operate within Spartanburg County, the field reviews of these facilities suggest that only the Spartanburg Downtown Memorial Airport provides smaller private delivery, but is limited by runway length (just over 5,200 feet) and direct access to loading/unloading equipment. Figure 5. NTAD Airport Locations
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