SCDOT has two intersection projects lined up on SC 9 in Boiling Springs. The first was cut back before any work started, and its finish date has since moved a full year. The second has not been bid yet. SCDOT's public website still lists its construction as Fall 2026, but the department's own letting schedule now shows a January 2027 bid. If Boiling Springs Road is your daily drive, expect these improvements to arrive in stages and later than the early handouts said.
Here is how each project got to where it is, and what will change at your turns once the work is done.
The First Fix Started Out as a Widening
In 2022, SCDOT reintroduced its plans for SC 9 between I-85 and Shoally Creek Road/4th Street at a public meeting held June 16 at the Upstate Family Resource Center on Old Furnace Road. According to the meeting handout, the original design added a third through lane in each direction from I-85 to the Shoally Creek intersection. That design "exceeded the budget available for right-of-way acquisition and construction," so SCDOT went back and asked what it could improve without adding through lanes.
The scaled-back version is the one now under construction. It keeps the earlier turn-lane work on 4th Street and Shoally Creek Road and adds a right-turn lane onto Shoally Creek. At Candlenut Road, it changes how drivers get in and out:
- The concrete median on SC 9 extends through the Candlenut intersection.
- Drivers on SC 9 can still turn left onto Candlenut Road.
- Drivers leaving Candlenut Road can only turn right.
- If you need to head south on SC 9 from Candlenut, you'll use a widened U-turn area, called a "loon," at 4th Street and Shoally Creek Road.
The project covers about half a mile of SC 9, from I-85 to Rogers Commerce Boulevard, and about 0.3 mile of Shoally Creek Road/4th Street. In 2022, SCDOT estimated the whole project at $4.6 million, including $2.7 million for construction. The handout projected right-of-way purchases in spring 2023 and a construction start in spring 2024.
Then the Finish Date Moved a Year
The Spartanburg Area Transportation Study, the region's transportation planning group, gets regular status reports from SCDOT. Its May 12, 2025 minutes reported that the contract had been awarded to Civil Pros Inc., with completion expected in Fall 2025. By the August 18, 2025 meeting, the expected finish had moved to Fall 2026 because of utility relocation work. The February 2026 minutes kept Fall 2026.
The most recent update is in the May 13, 2026 SPATS minutes. They still listed the project as "Relocating utilities." As of that report, $1.12 million had been spent out of $6.58 million obligated for construction. The 2022 handout's construction estimate for the same project was $2.7 million. The plan got smaller, and the money set aside to build it more than doubled.
SCDOT's expected finish for the Shoally Creek and 4th Street work is still this fall. As of mid-May, most of the construction money hadn't been spent yet.
The Next Project, Same Pattern
About a mile up the corridor is the second project, which covers SC 9 at Parris Bridge Road and a new extension of Sloane Garden Road. SCDOT introduced it at a drop-in meeting on May 16, 2024, at Boiling Springs Community Park, 182 Rainbow Lake Road. The handout from that meeting gave this timeline:
Right-of-way acquisition is anticipated to begin in Spring 2025. Construction is anticipated to begin in Spring 2026.
As of this writing, the SCDOT project website lists right-of-way acquisition as "Underway" and construction as "Fall 2026." It gives no completion date.
SCDOT's letting schedule, the list of when projects go out for bids, tells a more recent story. Both pieces of the project are bundled into one contract, number 4257640. That contract appeared on the October 2026 tentative letting list, which was generated May 26, 2026 and marked "Subject To Change Without Notice." The January 2027 tentative list, generated October 19, 2026, now includes the same contract with this note: "Contract has been moved from 10/1/2026 letting."
A tentative letting is the month SCDOT plans to open bids. It is not a construction start date, and it can move again. No contractor or bid amount has been announced yet.
| Project | First published construction start | Latest SCDOT status |
|---|---|---|
| SC 9 at Shoally Creek Rd/4th Street | Spring 2024, per the 2022 handout | Awarded to Civil Pros Inc.; completion expected Fall 2026 as of May 2026 |
| SC 9 at Parris Bridge Rd + Sloane Garden extension | Spring 2026, per the 2024 handout | Tentative bid letting moved from October 2026 to January 2027 |
What Changes at Parris Bridge and Sloane Garden
The design itself has stayed the same. At Parris Bridge Road, which SCDOT designates S-43, the plan adds two dedicated left-turn lanes on Parris Bridge and longer turn lanes on SC 9. It also adds medians and access management, meaning fewer places to turn in and out of SC 9 near the intersection.
The bigger change for daily routes is at Sloane Garden Road. SCDOT plans to extend Sloane Garden Road to a new signalized intersection with SC 9, about 600 feet south of where it meets SC 9 today. The new signal lines up with the main entrance to the Baxter Village residential development. The current Sloane Garden Road junction with SC 9 becomes a cul-de-sac. SCDOT describes the extension as "an alternate route to the 4th Street connection," with "multiple options to travel from I-85 / SC 9 intersection to Parris Bridge Road."
That ties the two projects together. Today, much of the traffic headed from I-85 to Parris Bridge Road goes through 4th Street, where the first project is still under construction. The Sloane Garden extension adds a second way through. Until it is built, 4th Street remains the main connector, and it is still a work zone.
The 2024 estimate for both pieces combined was about $9.9 million, including $3.8 million for design and right-of-way and $6.1 million for construction. Those figures predate the schedule changes. At Shoally Creek, the gap between the early estimate and the money later set aside for construction was large.
Why the Corridor Got Here
The traffic itself has been well documented. In July 2024, Fox Carolina reported that much of Highway 9's recent growth had happened between Valley Falls Road and Farm Lake Road. It cited the Whataburger, QT and Target that had opened or were under construction at the time. Jeff McDowell, owner of Cowboy Connection, told the station that at peak times traffic is "stopped in front of my business for around an hour and a half every day." Josh Dodson of New Groove Artisan Brewery told Fox Carolina he tries to avoid the busier areas between 7 a.m. and 5 p.m.
The same report said SCDOT expected to start retiming 11 traffic signals along the corridor in 2025. It also reported that Spartanburg County had no improvements of its own planned for that section of Highway 9. The retiming shows up in SPATS records as project P040940, "SC 9 Retiming (11 Intersections)," with a financial entry dated March 4, 2025. SCDOT has not published a completion notice for the retiming.
Businesses along the corridor have kept changing in the meantime. WSPA reported in May that Sissy's Sweets would close its original Highway 9 location on May 16, 2026, to focus on its Westside store. Dutch Bros lists a store at 2209 Boiling Springs Road. New Groove Artisan Brewery, at 4078 SC-9, has two markets on its holiday calendar, both from noon to 4 p.m.: an indoor pop-up market on Sunday, November 22, and a large outdoor market on Sunday, December 13. Both are on Sundays, outside the weekday rush Dodson described.
Dates to Watch Through Winter
- Fall 2026: SCDOT's expected completion for SC 9 at Shoally Creek Road/4th Street, including the Candlenut Road U-turn setup.
- January 2027: Tentative bid letting for the Parris Bridge Road and Sloane Garden Road extension contract.
- After award: A contractor, a contract amount and an actual start date for Parris Bridge, none of which exist yet.
The SCDOT project page is the public reference for Parris Bridge. SCDOT's monthly tentative letting lists are where schedule changes show up first, and they have run ahead of the public page.
If your home is on Sloane Garden Road, near Parris Bridge, or anywhere along the 4th Street connector, these projects change how buyers will reach your street. Whether a listing goes up during construction or after it changes how that access comes across. Before you set a timeline, Michael Dassel can walk you through what the road work means for your address and pull a current value for your home. Request a free home valuation.
