County Gets $9.2M Grant for Exit 27 Improvements

Greg Wilson/Anderson Observer

Anderson County has been awarded a $9,271,519 grant from the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) Local Access Road program to support improvements to the I-85 Exit 27 southbound off-ramp, as well as construction of an extension to Orange Way.

The project will  create a new access roadway between Martin Road (S-4-166) and S.C. 81 North.

The award will be supplemented by $1,104,070 in non-Federal funding. The total project cost is $10,375,589. The county estimates an 18-month period for preliminary engineering, environmental review, and ROW acquisition, followed by a 12-month construction timeframe. 

“We value the contributions made to our community by our economic development partners, and it is truly a pleasure to help them grow and thrive,” said Anderson County Council Chairman Tommy Dunn. “Announcements like this help us show business and industry leaders the efforts we will go through to ensure their success and continued prosperity.”

The road improvements are expected to help manage traffic generated by economic development projects at TTI/Ryobi, Robert Bosch Corporation, and three major logistics facilities in the project area, committed projects which are expected to create in than 1,350 new jobs created and bring a capital investment in excess of $468 million. 

The improvements will also serve as key component of much-needed additional supporting infrastructure to serve future economic activity on prime industrial and commercial acreage located in the project’s service area. The amount of available acreage has the potential to support more than 2,000 manufacturing, administrative, and commercial jobs.