Provided

It is important that everyone be aware of the alternate routes offered before making their way to the area. While their normal way of travel might be blocked, at no point will access be unavailable to any business/office. There will of course be signage in place to help direct the public around to get to their destination on time.

Plans for a new and improved roadway to the new hospital call for a round-a-bout on Mathis Ferry Road, adjacent to the I-526 overpass as well as an improved road from the old hospital off of Bowman Road to Von Kolnitz Road.

According to  Bart Bodkin IV, assistant project manager with Robins & Morton, work on Hospital Drive will begin July 7. The contractor is local firm Three Oaks Contractors.

A new road will be added beside the replacement hospital running from Mathis Ferry Road to the back door of the existing hospital.

In addition to the new round- a-bout at Mathis Ferry Road, an update storm drainage system will be put into place, street lights will be added, additional landscaping will be put in, and a sidewalk will run the length of the road for pedestrian traffic.

Also, the existing pond at Von Kolnitz has been made twice the size of what it was. Bodkin said right now the project is about 40 percent complete. Work up until this point has been done on the hospital’s private property so there has been no impact to the public yet. The next part of the construction will be done in three phases, beginning with Hospital Drive.

This will be done in two phases, beginning with the half closest to the existing hospital. That portion of the road will be shut down. Once complete, the other half of the road will be shut down.

“We’ve sent out letters and had meetings with physicians so they can let their patients know what they needed to do when they get there,” Bodkin said, “and there will be signage in place to detour motorists.”

The first phase will take four to five weeks. Crews will  then flip over to the other half of the road closest to Von Kolnitz, which will also take four to five weeks.

Work on the round-a-bout will also start July 7. Bodkin said that the two lanes of traffic will remain open at all times except occasionally between the hours of 9 p.m. and 6 a.m. Motorists won’t see lane closures until sometime around the end of July as crews will be working along the  shoulders until then. Flag men will be on hand to help direct traffic.

These projects will be complete before school starts back.

“The road is being added to service the new hospital but the town had improvements they wanted to see included in the project such as upgrading the infrastructure, adding  pedestrian sidewalks and updating street lighting to match the things out there,” Bodkin said. “The roundabout should fit right in with what people are used to as far as traveling around Mount Pleasant. In addition, we’re working next to roads that are going to be in use constantly and we have a full time safety engineer on site to review procedures and make sure everyone is working safe and the traffic coming by is safe,” he said. “This project includes many exciting features that people are going to be pleasantly surprised about and it will make access in and around the area much more convenient - especially with regard to accessing the brand new hospital,” he said. “Because there is such a push to be complete with the work in the SCDOT right-of-ways (Von Kolnitz intersection & Mathis Ferry roundabout) before school starts, we may have to focus our manpower in those phases from time to time.  We anticipate a worst case completion date of Sept. 30,” according to Bodkin.

(Sully Witte can be reached by e-mail at editor@moultrienews.com.)