News

Upward Road project misses August deadline

By Bill Moss, Published: June 3, 2013

The Upward Road widening project has been delayed for at least three months, pushing the expected completion date to early 2014, the DOT says.

"The project was scheduled to be finished the first of August, but they're not going to make it," DOT resident engineer Aaron Powell told the Hendersonville Lightning. "We hope to have the project substantially completed by December and have it done by the first of next year."
The contractor, Blythe Development Co. of Charlotte, faces a penalty of $2,000 a day for the delay.
"They're claiming utilities (caused a delay) but if you look at our project diaries, we don't agree with their assessment," Powell said.
Work still remaining includes finishing a drainage culvert at Spartanburg Highway and Case Road, widening a stretch of Spartanburg Highway as part of the intersection improvement, finishing Upward Road from Case Road to Spartanburg Highway and finishing the road widening from the I-26 interchange to Howard Gap Road. The $24 million project will create a new four-lane divided highway and includes a six-lane bridge over I-26.
The Henderson County Chamber of Commerce in its monthly newsletter to members said that the extension into winter could force further delay because paving can't be done in cold weather. "We will continue to urge a swift completion of this project," the chamber said.