Businessman makes suggestion to ease traffic woes

A member of the Bountyland business community has an idea that might serve a dual purpose in lessening traffic congestion in the Seneca bedroom community which 50 years ago was a quiet place in the country. Houses had yet to be built on Keowee, and 28 highway thru Bountyland was a two-lane road. Tate Rochester of R&R Fabricators thinks a second traffic light and a new road might facilitate traffic that is likely to increase when a new, large home development is built between the former Covidien plant and the S. Cove Road. Rochester told us that new road could pass thru the former Covidien property and tie into 28 in front of R&R and the Cliffabee Lea’s subdivision. It would allow traffic entering 28 a safer entry onto the four-lane highway. The new road, he believes, could ease the bottleneck that is often in play nearby at the Bountyland intersection with Bountyland Road and SC 188/the Keowee School Road. But apparently it’s unlikely South Carolina is going to build any new roads as the DOT, the recipient of increased gas tax funds, is concentrating on repairing existing roads and bridges. One speaker at the Seneca public hearing for Jon Boyd’s 235-home development predicted there will be a new road from 123 in Seneca to the S. Cove Road. Today we asked Scott Moulder, the city administrator, if he could verify or discount that prediction. Moulder’s replied: “I have heard nothing about that. Nor have I seen any concepts.”