The town of Batesburg-Leesville is planning extensive upgrades for both of its twin downtowns. The improvements will include new sidewalks and pedestrian crosswalks. 

Batesburg-Leesville was awarded funds through a Safe Streets and Roads for All grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation. The award consisted of $96,000 in federal funds to create an action plan that will detail what renovations need to be done in order to create a safe roadway environment. 

“A lot of what that is is traffic calming measures on our main streets,” said Ted Luckadoo, Batesburg-Leesville’s town administrator. “We’re going to bring sidewalks out some and create midway elevated areas to slow vehicles down. It’s all about creating better-established crosswalks for people. Our hope is to get year one implementation funding under that to get a lot of our downtown stuff done.” 

Batesburg is the only Lexington County municipality to be granted funds, but Luckadoo said he expects the other towns to apply next year now that the grant is more publicized. 

“The grant is going to offer an opportunity for a larger pool of funds,”  Luckadoo said. “There's no grant maximum. They've got millions and millions of dollars to be used nationwide. We're just trying to tap into that.”  

“We certainly encourage other counties and municipalities to, if they haven't done so already, take a look at this,” he added. “It seems like a great opportunity for everyone and it can provide some much-needed resources to tackle long-standing problems.”

Town Mayor Lancer Shull emphasized the generational impact the grant will have once projects are completed. 

The grant is “massive in a town that doesn't, you know, have a large tax base,” Shull told the Chronicle. “If we have these types of funds, we can focus our town taxes on other projects. Projects like these last for generations.”

The action plan's goal is to identify the most significant roadway safety concerns. The town had begun designing renovations for the main street areas before receiving the funds.

The plan will detail goals for the upgrades, along with laying out the task force or committee that will monitor the projects and the safety analysis of existing conditions in the area. 

The town awarded Mead & Hunt the bid to create the action plan during its regularly scheduled Town Council meeting Oct. 9. 

Luckadoo said the hope is to finish the plan in late February. After the action plan is completed, the town will begin applying for implementation funds through the same grant. Construction will not begin until after the town has been granted implementation funds. 

He doesn’t expect construction to begin for at least a year and a half.

It’s unclear which downtown will be renovated first. Luckadoo said that will be decided by council.

“It’s ideal we get funding for both main streets,” Luckadoo said. “If we only get funding for one, it's going to be up to council which one we do first. … One would like to argue that Batesburg needs more attention, but then you've got the business owners in Leesville that say, ‘Look how much we've invested of our private money to keep it looking good, y'all help us out.’ It's a back-and-forth debate.”

Batesburg-Leesville was founded in 1970 when the separate towns consolidated into one. But despite the consolidation, each side of town has its own personality. 

“Batesburg isn’t separate from Leesville anymore, we’re one town and this project is going to help us solidify who we are,” Luckadoo said. “We’ve become a really fun destination and it’s only going to get better.”

While the town is beginning to create a quality action plan, it’s actively repairing broken sidewalks all over town using C funds, provided through a statewide program to pay for small-scale roadway improvements and distributed by counties.

Batesburg-Leesville receives C funds almost every year, but the funds can only be used to replace what already exists. 

The C funds are “not used to construct any new sidewalks,” Luckadoo said. “What we're doing with that is, you've got a lot of old sidewalks that have been around for 30 to 50 years and they’re broken up, they're trip hazards for people.”

Batesburg has been trending upward as more businesses find their way to the rural community. And as remote jobs become more accessible nationwide, Shull hopes to see more people choose the town as their home. 

“It’s becoming an attractive place for young families to come to,” Shull said. “A lot of jobs are online nowadays so people have a choice of what type of community they want to live in. We’re a pretty relaxed, laid-back, uh, low-stress place. If you can improve your parks and, make your downtown areas more attractive you’ll attract those mom-and-pop businesses that people really enjoy and then you'll attract the people.”