SUMTER, S.C. — Four projects are coming to roads in the city of Sumter. In this week’s city council meeting, community leaders discussed the upgrades by passing resolutions acknowledging the projects. Although approved by the city, the projects are actually headed by the South Carolina Department of Transportation (SCDOT).
“That’s great,” Sumter resident Doncella Gibson said. “Anything for improvement.”
Gibson has lived in Sumter for over three decades and says the idea of improvement projects coming to roads in the city, like on Miller Road across Shot Pouch, is a good idea.
“I’m just thinking, like, this area, you see how people are going by sort of quickly. I don't know if they really focus,” Gibson said about the pedestrian crosswalk that crosses Miller Road, where the bridge is. “Maybe something that it’s a warning that there's a crossing here. Because you want people to be able to do this walk safely.”
SCDOT said this project would replace the bridge because of “structural and functional deficiencies.” Construction letting, which SCDOT says "signifies that a contract has been rewarded and there is often time between letting and actual beginning of construction," is scheduled for 2025 and is expected to cause a 10-month detour.
“Any improvements to the area I think is a really great thing,” Kenberly Jordan said.
Jordan is familiar with the Manning Avenue bridge, which is also set to be replaced. Construction letting is scheduled for late this year and will last about 14 months.
“Whenever I drove past the bridge, maybe some potholes and bumps here and there,” Jordan said. “It’s a lot of, like, glass and stuff is out there as well. So, just maintaining it would be good as well.”
The city council also discussed two intersection projects on Broad Street: one at Loring Mill Road and the other at North Saint Pauls Church Road near Shaw Air Force Base. Both are scheduled to begin with construction letting in the summer of 2025.
“I think that that's definitely a good thing as well,” Jordan said. “Especially, like, right up by the base; there's definitely some potholes and some areas that need a little bit more care.”
Clarence Weston, who has lived in the area for 40 years, says projects like this are needed in the area.
“It’s helping the community, roads,” Weston said. “I do. I think that they need some work, yeah. And that’s where a lot of these roads up where I live at, they need a lot of work.”
In the resolutions, Sumter City Council acknowledged the projects, which say, “the City will assist SCDOT in causing all water, sewer and gas pipes, manholes, or fire hydrants, and all power or telephone lines or poles located within the existing right-of-way to be relocated under the plans at the utility company’s expense.”
For a complete list of SCDOT projects coming to Sumter, you can visit SCDOT.org.