STEELE CREEK NEWS
NCDOT Recommends
Funding to Widen Hwy 160 to State Line
(September
4, 2016) Last week the North Carolina Department of Transportation
(NCDOT) released its list of Regional Impact projects recommended for
funding through its
Prioritization 4.0 process, and it included the
widening of Highway 160 (Steele Creek Road) between Highway 49 (South Tryon
Street) to the South Carolina state line with construction beginning in 2022.
As shown on the
list available
HERE, this project scored next to last on the list of
funded projects in Division 10. Although the project was on the
bubble, the local NCDOT staff promoted its inclusion to state
officials, and it was placed on the same schedule as the widening of
Highway 160 north of Highway 49. This project is second on the list
when sorted by recommended start dates.

Funding for
widening Highway 160 from Shopton Road West to Highway 49
was approved in the
2016-2025 State Transportation Improvement Program. Right-of-way
acquisition is scheduled for 2020 with construction in 2022 and
2023.
NCDOT is
recommending that the widening of Highway 160 south of Highway 49 be on the same schedule so that the entire widening from
Shopton Road West to the South Carolina state line can be completed
together under the same contracts. NCDOT will release its Draft
2018-2027 STIP in January 2017, and it should be approved in June.
Any projects scheduled to begin within the first five years of the
STIP are considered safe and not subject to reprioritization.
The widening
project will include two lanes each way with a grassy median, turn
lanes, bicycle lanes, and sidewalks.

Also included in
the 2016-2025 STIP is a project to improve the intersection of
Highway 160 and Hamilton Road, which will "widen intersection for
additional capacity and future Steele Creek Road cross section." The
schedule shows right-of-way acquisition in 2018 and construction in
2019, but planning is already underway, and NCDOT staff have said
that construction could begin in 2017.
The widening of the
southern section of Highway 160 did not qualify for inclusion in the
2016-2025 STIP, but it has moved up in priority in the latest round
of reviews, This improvement certainly has been influenced by the
support given by the community in comments to NCDOT and the
Charlotte Regional Transportation Planning Organization (CRTPO)
as well as at the annual Steele Creek Residents Association
meetings. You, the Steele Creek community, have made a difference!
At the
Steele Creek Residents Association meeting in 2013 Bob Cook of CRTPO said that
no Highway 160 project was included in long term transportation
plans that identified projects expected to be constructed by 2035.
Beginning with the
2040 Metropolitan Transportation Plan, adopted in April 2014,
Highway 160 projects have been slowly moving up on priority lists,
so a projected 2022 construction after three and a half years of
planning is a significant improvement.
According to the
Lake Wylie Pilot, Highway 160 is South Carolina will be widened from
two lanes to five from Gold Hill Road to the North Carolina state
line. "Right-of-way acquisition should begin in 2016 for the $8.8
million project. The construction at S.C. 160 and Gold Hill Road is
being done by SCDOT. Construction on the rest should come in 2017."
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story, please visit the
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Steele Creek Residents Association Facebook Page.
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