(Photo credit: Pennies for Progress)
YORK COUNTY, S.C. (CN2 NEWS) – Some much needed relief on a busy road is expected to make for an easier and faster commute on Monday, September 13th.
At 5 AM the Gold Hill Road bridge over I-77 will look very different.
It’s estimated 25,000 vehicles a day travel the bridge, which will become a diverging diamond. This is the first in the state.
Engineers say it will allow for a better flow of traffic on and off the interstate.
A Diverging Diamond Interchange is diamond-shaped that allows vehicles in two lanes to temporarily cross to the left side of the road, travel the bridge, then cross back to the right side.
This makes traffic move easily through an intersection without increasing the number of lanes and traffic signals. It’s designed for high-volume traffic areas according to leaders in York County.
This Diverging Diamond is a Pennies for Progress Project.
It was approved in 2011 as part of the Pennies 3 Referendum. Construction began in the summer of 2019.
The project has a price tag of 14.5 million dollars, Pennies for Progress is paying 12 million, with the remaining money funded by grants.
There will still be some minor construction and that should end in late October.
The bridge will close Friday, September 10th at midnight, but there will still be access to the interstate in both directions using the ramps, according to leaders.
Below is a link to a video provided by Pennies for Progress explaining how a diverging diamond works for traffic coming from all directions.
http://penniesforprogress.net/161/Videos
