Freeway Systems (Sumter, Dillon: contractor, price, shop)

[Mutiny77]

Originally Posted by Woodlands

No I am not advocating that Elmwood Park should have been torn down and agree it is probably one of the city's nicest neighborhoods.. I only wanted to point out that the highway, as designed, skirted the neighborhood to the north and west and mainly warehouses along the west side of Wayne Street were impacted in addition to a few structures used to sit where Vista Towers are at the top of Huger Street. It seems like it could have been designed in a manner so that it could have served its purpose while not destroying the neighborhood.


Highways and cities have had a challenging relationship.. "yes" tearing down neighborhoods, displacing residents, bisecting neighborhoods is a problem especially when driven by race and socioeconomics "urban renewal" as they were in the 60s and 70s. Today many cities are taking down their highways or turning them into boulevards/ parkways or decking them over as you have shown. But without inner city highways.. what would the CBD of some of our cities look like? People ran to the suburbs and so did places of employment and if it there were no connections between the city and the suburbs would some have emptied out even more because of accessibility issues and lack of convenient connectivity between the city center and the suburbs?

It's important to remember that interstate highways and modern suburbs came into being at the same type and were facilitated by the same group of policies. Without those highways, there would be no auto-oriented suburbs.

[Al G]

Originally Posted by Mutiny77

The story I heard was that both Columbia and Charleston wanted I-95 routed through their cities so state leaders "compromised" with the current route.

Well, not all true. Your boy Thurman had a lot of land he wanted to off load in that area. 'So'?

[Woodlands]

Originally Posted by Al G

Well, not all true. Your boy Thurman had a lot of land he wanted to off load in that area. 'So'?

That wouldn't surprise me... Unfortunately, there don't seem to be as many economic windfalls along I-95 when compared to I-85 or I-26. If I recall correctly its been stated that 95 runs through some of the poorest communities in the state....One would think it would be a super highway full of development, industry and shopping outlets given the volume of east coast traffic that goes through..Like in many cases GA and NC jumped all over those type of development opportunities to the extent that they were there to be had..leaving us with South of the Border and a few well used rest areas.....

[Mutiny77]

Originally Posted by Woodlands

That wouldn't surprise me... Unfortunately, there don't seem to be as many economic windfalls along I-95 when compared to I-85 or I-26. If I recall correctly its been stated that 95 runs through some of the poorest communities in the state....One would think it would be a super highway full of development, industry and shopping outlets given the volume of east coast traffic that goes through..Like in many cases GA and NC jumped all over those type of development opportunities to the extent that they were there to be had..leaving us with South of the Border and a few well used rest areas.....

Not really. I-95 goes through Savannah and Brunswick, but GA has a short coastline and the state has chosen to keep it relatively undeveloped and pristine. As far as NC goes, I-95 goes through Lumberton, Fayetteville, and Roanoke Rapids but there's not really special there.

I think the biggest missed opportunity so far on SC's part is not developing a logistics hub at the I-95/I-26 interchange.

[m1a1mg]

Originally Posted by Mutiny77

Not really. I-95 goes through Savannah and Brunswick, but GA has a short coastline and the state has chosen to keep it relatively undeveloped and pristine. As far as NC goes, I-95 goes through Lumberton, Fayetteville, and Roanoke Rapids but there's not really special there.

I think the biggest missed opportunity so far on SC's part is not developing a logistics hub at the I-95/I-26 interchange.

Did you not read the sentence before the part that you bolded? Georgia has put a lot of the very stuff that Woodlands pointed out. It seems SC could have done the same with outlets and stuff and hauled in the tax dollars from all them dang Yankee tourists.

[Woodlands]

Originally Posted by Mutiny77

Not really. I-95 goes through Savannah and Brunswick, but GA has a short coastline and the state has chosen to keep it relatively undeveloped and pristine. As far as NC goes, I-95 goes through Lumberton, Fayetteville, and Roanoke Rapids but there's not really special there.

I think the biggest missed opportunity so far on SC's part is not developing a logistics hub at the I-95/I-26 interchange.

Fair point. GA may have chosen to keep it pristine likely for tourism purposes. But in NC ...there is an outlet in Smithfield that is pretty popular. Then you have Wilson and Rocky Mount both have over 50k each which is quite large by SC standards. They are both the size of Florence which is the largest SC city by far on 95. Fayetteville is the big dog on the entire stretch though its presence is misleading from 95

[Mutiny77]

Originally Posted by m1a1mg

Did you not read the sentence before the part that you bolded? Georgia has put a lot of the very stuff that Woodlands pointed out. It seems SC could have done the same with outlets and stuff and hauled in the tax dollars from all them dang Yankee tourists.

Outside of Savannah and the other ports, the I-95 corridor through GA isn't very industrial. There's one outlet mall in Savannah that I'm aware of but that's it.

What else is there? It's been a while since I've driven that stretch so some stuff could have been added in recent years that I'm unaware of.

[Mutiny77]

Originally Posted by Woodlands

Fair point. GA may have chosen to keep it pristine likely for tourism purposes. But in NC ...there is an outlet in Smithfield that is pretty popular. Then you have Wilson and Rocky Mount both have over 50k each which is quite large by SC standards. They are both the size of Florence which is the largest SC city by far on 95. Fayetteville is the big dog on the entire stretch though its presence is misleading from 95

Yeah that looks to be a nice outlet mall in Smithfield. Wilson and Rocky Mount really aren't that big and in reality Florence is a good bit larger. Florence has a better presence on I-95 than Fayetteville.

In conclusion, the stretch of I-95 between Petersburg/Richmond and Savannah is pretty underwhelming.

[Woodlands]

Originally Posted by Mutiny77

Outside of Savannah and the other ports, the I-95 corridor through GA isn't very industrial. There's one outlet mall in Savannah that I'm aware of but that's it.

What else is there? It's been a while since I've driven that stretch so some stuff could have been added in recent years that I'm unaware of.

There are two major GA Ports along 95 in Savannah and Brunswick. I believe Target has a Distribution Center down there and a Naval Base at Kings Bay. The highway also skirts SAV International Airport which is a plus.. Much of the land long there is seems to be in a Flood Plains which along with hurricanes may be a disincentive to locate there as it seems more coastal than 95 in SC.


You have two major interstates that intersect with 95 in SC and only one in GA @ Savannah where it crosses I-16. The fact that it is in Savannah gives that confluence an edge for sure.. but I am surprised there isn't more at @26 or @20 in SC.


Back on NC for a moment... 95 skirts a dozen small towns within a few miles or less of their downtowns. I don't know if that was planned and certainly Lumberton, Benson, Kenly are not economic powerhouses.. But, I would suspect the few gas stations, Motels, Fast Food Restaurants, and McDonalds that have opened up at these interchanges in these little burgs have added hundreds of thousands of dollars to these towns and provided jobs that they would have otherwise not gotten as they take advantage of 95. These places would turn into a Lynchburg or Mayesville which dont have the benefit of even having a way to increase traffic through their towns.. 95 has benefited Florence, Dillon, St George, Yemassee and maybe Walterboro and Manning but the development seems less pronounced than the NC towns along 95 where the highway is much closer proximity to the town proper.. Even the larger cities just off of 95 have direct connects... US 64 is a freeway in between 95 and Rocky Mount as is I-795 to Wilson.


Again these are just observation with no benefit of any economic analysis or study of history on what the politicos in both states were thinking. It has been widely stated in SC that the politicos favor the coast and the upstate thus raising the question if what has/is occurring along 95 is because of some form of benign neglect....Is 73 ever going to get built through the Pee Dee... that would be a third confluence with 95....

[Woodlands]

Originally Posted by m1a1mg

Did you not read the sentence before the part that you bolded? Georgia has put a lot of the very stuff that Woodlands pointed out. It seems SC could have done the same with outlets and stuff and hauled in the tax dollars from all them dang Yankee tourists.

I have a friend from NY.. who used to apply his SOL(Sheet out of Luck) theory to SC when driving on 95 to/from Florida. He would attempt to get gas before entering SC going and coming. This would put him in Lumberton NC or Savannah. When I asked him what was the reason for doing this.. he indicated that .. initially.. He didn't want to stop in SC for his own personal and geo political reasons(which I think was more of a dig on me being from the Palmetto State) .. But he also indicated that the habit stemmed from that and psychologically feeling that at either of these locations outside of SC... you have either come through desolate areas and these locations seem like an "oasis" so you better get gas before you go off into the backwoods and run the risk of stopping at a lone wolf. Travelers seemed drawn to "activity" and thus want to stop at a populated area and not the lone wolf gas station off a deserted interstate exit. SC obviously has populated exits but if you already filled up in NC or GA and you get into a routine of stopping at certain places as part of your travel routine.. it may make it more attractive to leap over the Palmetto State...


Anyone else have similar phobias or is my friend just a "yankee nut"