VOLUME XXVI NO. III SOUTH CAROLINA DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION FALL 2014 irst ct 9 bridge project completed, opened By Bob Kudelka The gloomy weather did not overshadow the significance of steady downpour, thun- the eremony, however. der and lightning did not The new bridge was not only dampen enthusiasm for good news for the Bla ksburg A community - it was the first of the small but determined rowd attending a ribbon- utting er- many bridges to be built with A t emony in Cherokee County this 9 funding. summer. “This bridge today is just the “This is really a great day for beginning of what you’ll see South Carolina ” said Se retary throughout the state ” Oakley of Transportation J anet P. ak- said. “Thank you to overnor ley, who joined Commissioners Haley. Legislators, local officials and Oakley also thanked members SCDOT maintenan e workers at of the eneral Assembly. In at- the brief eremony on the ump- tendan e were Senator Harvey ing Bran h Road bridge before Peeler, Representative Dennis the rest of the eremony was Moss and Representative Steve moved indoors. Moss. The Jumping Branch Road bridge in Blacksburg is the first bridge completed using a special non-recurring appropriation of 5 million to repair closed or load- stricted bridges in South Carolina. What’s more A t 9 funding to be good stewards and get proj- has meant not only new bridges e ts moving as qui kly as we but the ki k start of major in- c an. terstate proje ts and millions of “We’re getting some of our dollars for resurfa ing. top priority interstate widenings “If it wasn’t for A t 9 , we a c omplished our worst bridges wouldn’t have a se ondary resur- addressed and improving our fa ing program right now due to pavement surfa e ” Metts said. funding shortfalls ” said Dire tor “It’s a significant impact.” of Maintenan e J im eda. Dire tor of Pre onstru - N e Bridges tion M itchell etts said sin e A t 9 was signed into law by the passage of A t 9 , a lot of G overnor ikki Haley on une work has been going on behind 2 4 , 0 1 , after the legislation the s enes as SCDOT engineers was passed by the eneral As- work to put the funds to use. sembly. A t 9 provided SCDOT “We’re very thankful for the with additional millions of dol- money and hope to make a real lars for bridge resurfa ing and PHOTOGRAPHS BY ROB THOMPSON/THE CONNECTOR positive dent in some of the mainline interstate proje ts. SC Transportation Secretary Janet P. Oakley, center, and Deputy Secretary for problems we have ” Metts said. Engineering Christy Hall gathered with commissioners, engineers and maintenance “This is the first time we’ve got- workers under a tent to officially cut the ribbon on the first ct 9 project, the umping ten any new money from the See ACT 98 page 2 Branch Road bridge. state level sin e 19 7 so we want SCDOT Rights of Way ...................................8-10 Summer Interns ...........................................16-17 INSIDE THIS ISSUE 511 Streaming Video ........................................ 11 Equipment Operator’s Conference ............18-21 I-95/U.S. 301 Project .........................................12 District Pages ..............................................23-30 Strategic Direction ...........................................3 Promotions ...................................................13-14 Caught Doing Good .........................................31 Hurricane Drill ..................................................6 Retirements and Deaths ..................................15 Secretary’s Column ..........................................32 2 SCDOT l THE CONNECTOR l FALL 2014 County ACT 98 from page 1 • $154,701,000 for the I-20 widening proje t in Le ington County 1 miles • $38,701,000 for the I-77 widening Deputy Se retary for Engineering proje t in Ri hland County 2 . miles Christy all said SCDOT re eived a non- • $262 million for hases I II of the re urring appropriation of 5 million to I-85 widening project in Spartanburg Winner of awards from S.C. Division, Public Relations Society of be used as the state mat h requirement for Cherokee Counties 1 miles ; funds not America; Carolinas Association of Business Communicators; S.C. the federal-aid bridge program. State funds to e c eed 4 million for preliminary engi- Press Association and AASHTO. originally planned for the state mat h re- neering for hase III of the I-85 widening quirement for federal-aid bridges will be proje t in Cherokee County Editor: Stan Shealy shifted to repair bridges that are losed or • $10 million for preliminary engineer- Photography / Layout Editor: Rob Thompson load-restri ted. This will enable SCDOT ing for I-2620126 in Richland and Lex- to address appro imately 0 per ent of the ington ounties. Editorial Board: Pete Poore, Bob Kudelka, Bonnie Cramer, state’s load-restri ted bridges. Tasha Crumpton, Kim Corley, Drew Stewart, Zoe Cook and Cody Hall said the state owns , 4 1 bridges. Ceremony in Of those 1 6 0 0 are substandard 9 are Cherokee County concludes Crouch. load restri ted and nine are losed as of The rainy ribbon- utting eremony of- The Connector is an employee article. For inquiries regarding news O t. 1. fered a glimpse of similar work that will be newspaper of the South Carolina copy, telephone (803) 737-1270. By late summer, SCDOT had 6 million repeated do ens of times as badly needed Department of Transportation. All All materials submitted become the of work under ontra t for new bridges. bridge repla ements are done a ross the news items may be reproduced property of SCDOT unless their More bridges will be let ea h month over state. with credit to The Connector or the return is stipulated. The Connector the ne t to 9 months. In this ase the original stru ture on source. News, photos and informa- is distributed free by mail to employ- “It’ll make a pretty good dent in lower- J umping Bran h Road was a ulvert on- tion to appear in The Connector ees and to ing the number of posted and losed bridg- stru ted prior to 19 8 . It was originally should be submitted to Stan Shealy, others upon es ” eda said. only 15 feet in length with no more than 0 Office of Communications, S.C. request. feet of roadway width. It was onstru ted of Department of Transportation, P.O. Janet P. R esur acing two on rete abutments with metal de k- Box 191, Columbia, SC 29202, no Oakley is Another part of A t 9 provided funds ing supporting the roadway surfa e. It was less than three weeks prior to date the South South Carolina for maintenan e of non-federally aided of publication. Copy should include Carolina Secretary Press Association Associate Member se ondary roads. the name and phone number of the of Transportation. See ACT 98 on page 3 “ or the past ouple of years we did source or person submitting the not have a resurfa ing program ” eda said. “Last year we had 15 million for preservation only but no resurfa ing. In fiscal year 2014, the amount was $41 million. That in reased to appro imately $60 million for the current fiscal year, F eda said. South Carolina There are more than 0 , 0 0 0 miles of non-federal aid se ondary roads in South Department Carolina. These are primarily two-lane roads and most of these roads are in poor c ondition that would eventually need re- o c onstru tion. Resurfa ing the roads means high osts of re onstru tion an be avoided. There is Transportation a safety element as well. Jim Rozier John N. Hardee Vacant “Anytime you improve a pavement Commission 1st Congressional 2nd Congressional 3rd Congressional where they’re not dodging potholes you’re District District District going to improve safety, ” eda said. I nterstate mpro ements A t 9 provided an annual appropria- tion of 5 million to SCDOT, whi h in turn will transfer an equivalent amount to the South Carolina Transportation In- frastructure Bank (SCTIB) to finance an estimated 55 million on e isting main- line interstates. The A t required SCDOT to submit a list of proje ts to the SCTIB for approval and required approval by the J oint Bond Review Committee. Approval of the following proje ts in the amount of $ 5 9 4 0 2 , 0 0 0 o c urred in De ember 0 1 W.B. Cook Samuel B. Glover Mike Wooten Clifton Parker for funds not to e c eed Woodrow W. Willard 4th Congressional 5th Congressional 6th Congressional 7th Congressional Commissioner • $80 million for the I-85385 in- District District District At-Large ter hange upgrade proje t in reenville District SCDOT l THE CONNECTOR l FALL 2014 3 Strategic Direction n ov. , Se retary J anet roadmap for the hallenges that are P. akley and the Deputy before us now and in the future. O Se retaries unveiled the In her introdu tion to the Stra- new Strategi Dire tion for SC- tegi Dire tion Oakley highlights DOT for 0 1 - 0 15. Se retary those hallenges and presents four Oakley said the Strategi Dire tion vital goals for SCDOT and its em- is intended to serve as the agen y’s ployees. “ S out Carolina ontinues to e p erien e stead p o ulation and e ono i gro t , out a ing t e sout as a region h is gro t is essential to a ontinuing i p ro e ent to t e ualit o li e o t e c iti ens o t e al etto tate, but brings t e t in h allenges o our trans ortation s ste being able to a c o m odate in reasing de and h ile e struggle to aintain our urrent s ste in good ondition S C O T understands t at reser ation and oderni ation o our trans ortation s ste is essential to t e e ono i h ealt o our tate e ill ta k le our in rastru ture c h allenges it er or an e based anage ent tools, data dri en in est ent strategies, inno ations in ro e t deli er ro on e tion t roug onstru tion, and s art ste ards i o all a ailable resourc es T h e C O T trategi ire tion is our road a to res ond to t e trans ortation h allenges e a e toda and in the foreseeable future.