SCDOT Announcement

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Last Updated on Tuesday, 29 September 2015 18:27

Written by Georgetown City

September 29, 2015

September 29^th 12:30 PM.  On Monday, September 21th, the City of Georgetown was notified by the SC Dept. of Transportation (“SCDOT”) that the Highway 17/521/701 (“Five Points”) intersection concrete resurfacing project would be delayed. SCDOT only received one bid for the work, which exceeded the project budget of $3.15 million by 92%. Under federal guidelines, the project must be rebid.

The City began work in July to relocate underground utilities around the Five Points intersection in anticipation of the SCDOT resurfacing that was supposed to immediately follow. This is disappointing news to the City because coordinating the work with SCDOT was intended to save money and lessen the impact on the community. The origin of the project began in 1999 with the idea to resurface the highly traveled Five Points intersection to a durable concrete surface from asphalt to extend the time between future resurfacings. There would also be improvements to traffic flow to reduce congestion.

The City understands the inconvenience of this decision to citizens and businesses along the Fraser Street/ Hwy 17 corridor. It also understand the reasons for SCDOT’s inability to proceed. 

Below is a statement from SCDOT:

Statement of Leah Quattlebaum : Program Manager of the SC Dept. of Transportation

On September 8^th, the SC Department of Transportation publicly opened the bidding process for a concrete paving project located in the area known as Five Points in the City of Georgetown. This project is located in the same vicinity as the work that is now occurring to relocate underground utilities and place overhead utilities underground.

Only one bid was received for the project which was substantially over the approved engineer’s estimate for the project.  Therefore under federal regulations, the Department was unable to award the project and move forward with construction.  It is the intent of the Department to review the bid package to determine if any modifications can be made to reduce the proposed cost of the project and re-advertise the project to receive bids in the Summer of 2016.  

If you have additional questions regarding this matter, please speak to the SCDOT Program Manager @ 803-737-1751.