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Fix for 'nightmare' road into Pineville coming soon, county says.

Rough road conditions heading into Pineville from South Carolina have frustrated drivers for years, but York County says it's nearly ready to begin construction.

FORT MILL, S.C. — Rock Hill-Pineville Road sits right on the North and South Carolina line.

On the North Carolina side, engineers say it's a five-lane road.

But in South Carolina, people who live nearby call it a two-lane "nightmare."

"For me and some of my neighbors here, it’s less than a quarter of a mile and takes 20 minutes to get that far," Torrie White, a resident, said. "So, it’s absolutely, extremely frustrating.”

Ilona Stevens is the manager at State Line Beverage Warehouse on the South Carolina side. 

She said York County gained ownership of part of their land years ago to widen the road, also known as Highway 51.

"So many potholes and everything else that (customers are) afraid that they’re going to take out their tires," Stevens said, "We’ve had more than enough people complain to us and we don’t even own it."

Patrick Hamilton, the assistant York County engineer, said the road repair and widening project has been more than 10 years in the making with money from the area's penny sales tax already approved.

He said the size of the project and the amount of land the county had to acquire extended the timeline with many businesses involved.

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"There's about 100 parcels or pieces of property that we had to acquire property from," Hamilton said. "A large majority of these properties were commercial properties, so we're not dealing with a regular citizen homeowner... It takes time to go through that acquisition process with those corporations... and we're not a priority for them."

Preparing utility providers for the change was also a challenge, but now, he said they're nearing construction with the project set to be up for bid in June.

Once completed, part of Highway 21 and Highway 51 to the North Carolina line will be widened into five lanes.

"I know Highway 51 is in terrible shape. I get emails about it weekly," Hamilton said. "However, it does take time in order to get all of it built.”

People who live in the area are just hopeful change comes soon.

"Who knows if it’s going to be 10 more years, but if they do that, it’ll make it a heck of a lot better," White said.

The county said those repairs could begin as early as this fall and will take a few years before they're completed.

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