Community members eager to learn more about Phase III of the Berlin G. Myers Parkway expansion are invited to attend a Greater Summerville/Dorchester County Chamber of Commerce monthly power hour meeting on Wednesday.
The meeting will take place 7:30 a.m. to 9 a.m. in the Town Council Chambers on the third floor of the Town Hall Annex.
Joy Riley, engineering project manager for South Carolina Department of Transportation, will provide an update on the status of the project that will extend the parkway by a little more than 3 miles from its current end at East Carolina Avenue to intersect with U.S. 17-A, below Orangeburg Road. The extension will run roughly parallel with the Sawmill Branch Trail.
The Army Corps of Engineers required a special permit to modify the 1971 Sawmill Branch Flood Control project. This particular permit issue came up in 2017 and has delayed progress of the expansion project.
Riley said there has been good coordination with the Army Corps of Engineers and it “feels like we’re getting close to having a permit package they’ll approve.”
“There’s a lot of dominos in this path forward but we do think that we can get a permit this time so that’s a very positive thing,” Riley said by phone to the Journal Scene.
Riley will also share details on the completed design and talk about the target date for opening construction bids. Once construction does begin, Riley estimates the expansion could take three years to complete because it’s “a very complex project,” that includes altering the flood control channel before building the roadway.
The design for the Berlin G. Myers road project was created in the 1970’s with the first two phases being completed in the 1990’s. In 2015, the State Infrastructure Bank board approved $30 million for the final phase.
To learn more about the monthly power hour contact Greatersummerville.org.
