The city of Greenville’s engineering department has several roadway projects in the pipeline for 2025.
Members of the West End, West Greenville, Haynie-Sirrine, Green Avenue, Sterling and Greater Sullivan neighborhood associations received updates on several roadway projects during a public meeting Dec. 11.
Augusta Street
Plans to improve the Augusta Street and Vardry Street intersection in downtown Greenville are in the design phase. Nick DePalma, assistant city engineer for capital projects, said the intersection has a severe grade issue due to railroad tracks. City engineers are currently looking at ways to improve the intersection’s street grade and pedestrian crossings.
Farther down Augusta Street, the city plans to complete several traffic and pedestrian safety improvements along a 2.3-mile stretch of the corridor. Clint Link, the city’s director of engineering services, expects the city will have finalized plans for the project by the end of the year. The project also recently received allocated gasoline tax funds (C Funds). Construction is hoped to begin in the spring of 2025.
Pendleton Street
The city plans to complete a lane reduction along Pendleton Street between South Main and Academy streets. This would turn the section into a two-lane roadway with protected bike lanes on both sides of the street.
The city has also proposed realigning the intersection at Pendleton and Vardy streets and adding pedestrian safety improvements. The Pendleton Street and Textile Street intersection will also receive a traffic signal along with pedestrian and bicycle lane improvements.
DePalma said a portion of Pendleton Street will also be resurfaced. The construction time frame for these improvements is expected to begin in the spring of 2025.
South Main Street
A portion of South Main Street from River Street and Augusta Street to Pendleton Street will be resurfaced. Link said the resurfacing project will allow the city to incorporate a few additional crosswalks along the road near Fluor Field and The Green apartment complex. This project is expected to begin in the summer of 2025.
Dunbar Street and Green Avenue
City engineers are working to complete traffic and pedestrian safety audits for Green Avenue and Dunbar Street. A draft version of the report was released in October. The report identifies needed traffic calming, pedestrian and intersection improvements along both corridors. The public is invited to submit feedback on the draft report by Dec. 31.
DePalma said the city plans to complete the roadway safety assessment in early 2025. Short-term recommendations from the report will be completed in spring 2025. In the summer, the engineering department will begin designing mid- to long-term improvements along the roadways. Public meetings for the design process are expected to take place in the fall and winter of 2025.
Dunbar Connector
The Dunbar Connector project is slowly moving forward. This project would provide an east-west connection to Dunbar Street from the County Square redevelopment.
The city has been working to acquire an approximately 2-acre property from the Greenville Housing Authority for the roadway connection. Greenville City Council approved the appropriation of $3.2 million for the property purchase in 2023. However, the property acquisition had to be approved by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Link said a letter from HUD was received on Monday which indicates the purchase has been approved.
Grove Road
An infrastructure resurfacing and rehabilitation project along Grove Road is currently underway. The city partnered with the South Carolina Department of Transportation to also design a road diet along the roadway. This would be completed along with multimodal transportation improvements.
DePalma said the project was originally planned for completion this by the end of the year. However, Greenville Water needed to replace a water line under Grove Road. This, along with Hurricane Helene, delayed the project.
“You’ll see this project getting underway once temperatures warm up and we’re able to pave in 2025,” DePalma said.
Queen Street Bridge
The city plans to replace the deteriorating Queen Street bridge serving as a direct connection between the Southernside and West Greenville neighborhoods. City engineers expect to complete the conceptual designs for the bridge replacement in the first quarter of 2025.
The construction project is estimated to cost between $5 million and $6 million to complete. The project was included in Greenville County’s capital project sales tax program. However, that referendum failed to pass in the Nov. 5 general election.
Willard Street Bridge
Construction of a new Willard Street bridge is set to begin in the first quarter of 2025. The bridge is located on the west side of Unity Park. A replacement bridge will be constructed along with improved safety measures at the Prisma Health Swamp Rabbit Trail Network.
