Bad weather and contractor problems have caused some minor setbacks for the Pineneedles Road widening project in Florence County, but state transportation officials say despite those delays, the project is expected to be finished by late October.
Traffic cones on Pineneedles Road have become the norm for those who travel the road. Construction crews have been working on widening the road to five lanes. They recently took away the old bridge, and crews are in the process of finishing the second part of a new bridge.
Jamie Poston is the Department of Transportation engineer on the Pineneedles project. "There's a lot of congestion, and we feel like the five lane section will improve the safety of the intersection."
13,600 cars travel Pineneedles Road every day. It's the first of six major road improvements in Florence County being funded through a combination of local option sales tax revenue and state infrastructure bank funds.
In the two years of construction, crews have experienced some problems. The original contractor went bankrupt and then there was the snow that fell last week.
Despite the delays, Poston says they're still on target to be done in the fall.
The other five road projects should be complete by 2013. They include improvements to US 378, US 76 from I-95 to Timmonsville, Pamplico Highway from Florence to US 378, and the US 301 Bypass.
