BAMBERG, S.C. - The finishing touches on the seven-month U.S. 301 widening project through Bamberg are being wrapped up, and the city's mayor is hopeful the revitalization effort will "jump start" business in the downtown area.

Business owners on Main Street, however, have expressed concerns about the project that has required the closing of the central thoroughfare.

Kim Jackson, co-owner of the downtown shop Stitch and Things, said the merchants have seen a "severe decrease in business." Stitch and Things, one of the handful of shops that remained open during the construction, is "struggling," Jackson said.

"Business is pretty much cut off, and even with the detour signs, people don't know how to get downtown. Sometimes we will go all week and no one will come in," she added.

But Bamberg Mayor Alton McCollum says the city will be proactive in drawing people back to the town center and possibly attracting newcomers as well.

"We will advertise, possibly on billboards, to get people back -- something like 'Slow Down and Visit Bea.jpgul, Historic Downtown Bamberg,'" he said.

McCollum added, "The City of Bamberg has spent nine years applying for federal grants to expand the road. This dream finally came to fruition three years ago."

The project, which will cost roughly $13 million, has consisted of widening the two-lane roadway through downtown Bamberg as well as the construction of two additional parking lots and the addition of decorative lights running the length of Main Street, where U.S. 301 and U.S. 78 intersect.

The project contractor, U.S. Group Inc., began the work in March and has been continuously monitored by the S.C. Department of Transportation to "ensure that the road meets state regulations," McCollum said.

"U. S. Group has allocated enough width for a four-lane road by narrowing many of the sidewalks up to four and a half feet, but we have decided at present to go with just two lanes, with a widened turning lane to allow room for many of the larger trucks that travel though here," the mayor said.

Repaving of the highway was finished Thursday; the smell of the new blacktop is still in the air. The only thing remaining to be done is the application of paint and other details, McCollum said.

Barring any unforeseen delays, U.S. 301 is scheduled to be reopened Oct. 27.

In fact, the Downtown Bamberg Business Association, headed by local business owner Gail Ellis, is preparing to hold an "Open House" celebration to draw customers back to the main drag.

Dozens of orange traffic cones, along with detour signs, dot the downtown landscape as the project winds down. McCollum said the work is being done "as quickly and safely as possible."

It can't be wrapped up soon enough in the opinion of some merchants and their family members.

Main Street Garden and Gift, according to Amy Dent-Sandifer, sister to the shop's owners, Dean and Angie Sandifer, "has absolutely no business at all."

She added, "The town has forgotten them because it's too complicated to get to their shop."

Some local business owners are also perplexed over what they say has been an unexplained increase in their water bills during the construction months.

"Our bill jumped from $30 to $40 per month to almost $100," Stitch's Kim Jackson said. "Four local businesses have had an increased water bill. We have frequently gone to the City Council meetings to address the issue. The city knows about our problems but say that the increase is due to a water leak."

In addressing the merchants' concerns about decreased business, McCollum reiterates that the widening project "is for the safety and betterment of the town."

"We want traffic to come through town," the mayor said.

The Open House celebration on Oct. 27 is aimed at "bringing the people back to downtown," Jackson said, "and to let them know that we are still here."

The celebration will include a cadre of activities beginning with a parade at 10 a.m.

"There will be food and entertainment all day. We'll have a Halloween costume contest for the children, and Otis Brown is set to perform that evening at Scarlet's Little Theater," Jackson said.

McCollum is optimistic better days are ahead for downtown merchants.

"The downtown people have suffered because of the traffic," he said, "but we are going to jump start this town."

T&D Correspondent Larkin Hiott can be reached by e-mail at larkinhiott@hotmail.com. Discuss this and other stories online at TheTandD.com.

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