In 2002, Clemson, SC, football fans will have a new reason to cheer. The bottleneck portion of Highway 76 and State Road 123, between Clemson and Seneca, SC, will be widened to four lanes. Bicycle riders will have riding space and walkers will be thrilled about the new sidewalks that will allow them to walk safely out of the roadway.
The $12.3-million widening of SR 123 started in the fall of 2000 and completion is expected in two years. Gary Thrift, president of Thrift Development Company, Seneca, SC, said, “The work is right on schedule, even with the football games.” The contract was awarded by the state of South Carolina Highway Department in May 2000 with funding from the highway department budget.
The project includes bridges, one of which will be widened and raised, and another which need to be constructed. United Construction Company, with offices in Chester, SC, is doing the bridge work; G & I Corporation of Anderson, SC, is responsible for the concrete work including curb, gutter and sidewalks; and F & R Asphalt Company of Easley, SC, is handling the asphalt work.
Thrift said that its biggest problem was “coordinating the utility work between the many people involved. The city of Clemson and Clemson University each have their own utilities as well as telephone, power, water and drainage from other sources. The road butts right up against a lot of Clemson property.” Thrift went on to say that “some ramps cannot be closed because of football games and we are also dealing with heavy traffic, especially during football games. So far, even for working in winter, the weather has been no hindrance.”
Thrift Development has initiated a unique plan to assist in coordinating and solving utility problems by having meetings every two weeks with utility supervisors. Letters are sent and phone calls are made inviting the companies to these meetings. This has enabled Thrift to maintain its schedule and keep the utility companies apprised of the progress of the job. “We want them to be in these meetings so they will know what problems we may be having, the status of our work and what needs to be moved by their workers. Coordination with the utilities is our major concern,” said Thrift.
“The job needs to be done. Landowners are happy to see it done and drivers are pleased to know that the road is being widened,” said Thrift. “No one is happy while it is going on, but they will all be glad to see it finished so they are not stuck in traffic jams. This stretch of road is currently a bottleneck between two four-lane roads. When you dump four lanes of traffic into two, there are problems.”
Glenn Thrift owns Thrift Development Company. Glenn is the younger of six brothers and still active in the business, in the field every day at age 69. Gary Thrift said, “The Thrift brothers have been in the road building business for more than 40 years doing mostly highway work and much of that is state work.
“We have 12 to 15 workers on the job on a daily basis. Many of the Thrift employees have been with the company for over 30 years. Donald Smith, project supervisor of Westminster, SC, has been with the company for 30 plus years.”
“Over 150,000 cu. yds. of dirt will be moved with a large percentage of that being borrow dirt. Our primary equipment is Caterpillar with Komatsu being a close runner up,” said Thrift.
Thrift Development Company does not lease or rent its equipment. Glenn Thrift prefers to own his equipment with much of it being purchased from Blanchard Machinery, a major Caterpillar dealer with offices in Greenville, SC, and across the state. Mitchell Distributing Company of Greenville, SC, is Thrift’s Komatsu dealer with offices statewide.
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