Groundbreaking in Aiken County for Powderhouse Connector Project

Phase one of the project will be getting underway on April 14th. County leaders say it will help make traffic flow on Whiskey Road smoother. 

“Phase one will kind of create like an L between Whiskey and Corporate Parkway. So, this one’s going to come off Whiskey, and we’ll have a roundabout in the middle, and it will go up Centennial up by Aiken Memory Care,” said Oliver Weston, Project Manager, Benesch.

This project has been in the works for over 20 years, with people at the groundbreaking who were there when the idea was first proposed.

“I was the Chairman of the original add hock committee that in 2006, 19 years ago, made the initial recommendation for the route that is currently being used here,” said Gary Bunker, Chairman of Aiken County Council. “So, it’s very gratifying to see that nearly 20 years later, what we put in the binder and the report is going to actually become physical, black top, and pavement. “

The road will be 2.35 miles and cost around 14 million dollars.

“It’s taken a long time to get here. We’ve had to get the funding from multiple places, but we’ve got the funding, and all of this could not have happened but for a team effort,” said Senator Tom Young, District 24.

This is a big step into helping traffic on Whiskey Road, with contractors expecting a 10 percent improvement in phase one and 15 to 18 percent in phase two. It will also help with economic development in Aiken, but residents should not worry about it causing more congestion.

“Taking off thousands and thousands of cars off of Whiskey Road. It would take an awful lot of development to cancel out the benefits from this,” said Bunker.

The construction of phase one will last around 16 months. There will be a public input meeting on April 3rd about phase two at Odell Weeks Activity Center from 5-7 pm.