Langston Construction is building two Southern Connector toll plaza facilities near Greenville, SC. The project, valued at more than $4 million, started in February and will be completed in October. The Southern Connector, 27.2 kilometers (17 mi.) of highway now under construction, will connect Interstate Highway 385 with Interstate Highway 85, allowing drivers to bypass the downtown area of Greenville that is currently unavoidable. South Carolina has only one other toll highway, in Hilton Head.

Project Manager Randall Thompson is coordinating the work on both structures. The east plaza will be a one-story structure, and the west plaza will have two stories. Both plazas will be equipped with elevator access to enclosed pedestrian bridges, which will cross the six lanes of the Southern Connector. There will be a total of four toll booths at each plaza, with two express lanes. The project also includes two Highway 20 ramp plazas and two Fork Shoals ramp plazas.

Langston personnel, including West Plaza Project Superintendent Terry Taylor, East Plaza Project Superintendent Steven Kemp, and Safety Director Bill Gray are pleased with progress on the project. Chastain Electrical and Porter and Gray of Greenville and Reece Engineering of Taylors are major subcontractors of the project. Bryan David of the DLR Group Inc., an engineering and architectural design firm in Tampa, Florida, is the project architect. Britt Peters and Associates of Greenville provided the structural engineering services, and Interwest Management Inc. is the private non-profit company overseeing the project.

Established more than 30 years ago in Piedmont, SC, Langston Construction Company is a general contracting firm and owns most of the equipment that it uses. “We have rough terrain cranes, track excavators, rubber-tired loaders, and rubber-tired backhoes. We work for clients in South Carolina, North Carolina, and Georgia and have approximately 75 employees,” said company President James Braswell Jr.

The company’s work includes water treatment and waste water treatment plants for the public and private sectors, industrial facilities, and plant maintenance. Projects range from $50,000 to $5 million. Recent customers include the City of Gaffney Board of Public Works, the Spartanburg Sanitary Sewer District, Springs Industries, Phillips Petroleum, and Duke Power. Langston is a recipient of the Associated General Contractors Presidential Award for Safety.

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