By Stan Welch
Increased truck traffic and old roads seldom go together well. That is the case in the area between the Wren community and Piedmont; an area that has seen increased industrial development in recent years.
As a result, Anderson County Roads and Bridges Department will close a portion of Shiloh Church Road near Highway 17 in the Wren community on Monday, September 10, 2018 to replace the west bridge near Shiloh Creek Subdivision. The road will be closed for eight or nine months. Shiloh Church Road closure map – click here
The existing road and bridge near Highway 17 is too narrow for the volume of trucks using the road. The new bridge will be a thirty feet long precast concrete hollow-cored slab, thirty three feet wide with concrete parapets on each side. Approximately a thousand feet of roadway near intersection of Highway 17 will be reconstructed. Holt Hopkins, deputy county administrator explained that the extended time frame is due to the terrain in the area. “We are going to have to do a good bit of draining and drying out the site. That may take several months by itself. “
He added that improvements will also be made at or near the intersection of Shiloh Church Road and Highway 17. “A common complaint we get is that the turn radiuses are inadequate for the trucks, so we will be changing those. About a thousand feet of the roadway near the intersection will be reconstructed and modified, possibly including a turn lane,” said Hopkins.
Estimated construction cost of $240,000 will be funded by Anderson County General Funds and labor and equipment provided by the Anderson County Roads and Bridges Department.
The roadway will be closed between Highway 17 and Cane Hill Drive C-01-0307 for approximately eight to nine months. The new bridge is scheduled to be open to traffic by May 31, 2019.
The posted detour will follow Highway 17 north to Hurricane Creek Road.
