Lancaster County officials discuss road strategies ahead of Target construction
INDIAN LAND, S.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) — In 2025, a proposed Target will sit across the street from the YMCA in Crossridge Center.
Not only will Target bring retail shopping and jobs to a growing part of Lancaster County, but it’ll also bring extra traffic with it. County leaders say they have a plan that will mitigate travel time on U.S. 521.
Constance Reid says she’s seen an increase in the four years she’s been in the area.
“To get the kids to school and back, it’s about 9 or 10 minutes, give or take. But what we usually do, if there’s more traffic or depending on what time we’re leaving so that we can miss it, we’ll cut through the neighborhood and go the back way and avoid it, and that we’ll shave off maybe a minute or so,” Reid said.
The proposed Target will take up about 15 acres of land and it’ll sit across the street from the YMCA. The initial site plan shows a Costco, multifamily housing, and a target in four construction phases.
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It also calls for nearly 800 spaces for parking. Their independent traffic analysis shows it will eventually bring about 26,000 passing cars daily.
“It’s a constant conversation to make sure that our infrastructure is keeping up with our growth,” said County Administrator Dennis Marstall.
County officials are discussing a comprehensive road program that features road priorities and funding strategies.
“Our congestion point is in our highway 521 coming straight out of Ballantyne. So we have had an initial preliminary study doing eight miles from the North Carolina border, down through 521 in the Indian Land area for eight miles. And so, there’s a proposal to widen 521 one lane in each direction,” Marstall said.
The county has about $9 million in current, voter-approved road projects through the capital progressive penny tax. Marstall says officials plan to add another $7 million to that.
“They’re going to put out the bid within the next six months. And then, during the six months, we’re going to have a community conversation about dedicated transportation funding to make a lot of road improvements over the next 20 years,” Marstall said.
Despite the possible traffic headache, Reid is excited for the retail giant to come to Indian Land.
“There are two targets that are probably about four miles away, but they are within about a mile of each other. They don’t need to be that close while out here. We’ve got some really good retail choices, but a target I think is appropriate for the area,” Reid said.
Marstall says they are preparing a full-fledged plan complete with extra engineering work that will be presented during a community conversation within the next six months.
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