Country Club Road Construction Project Addressed by CEO

Statement from Spartanburg Water CEO Guy F. Boyle Regarding the Country Club Road Improvement Project

Since 2020, Spartanburg Water has worked alongside the South Carolina Department of Transportation (SCDOT), Palmetto Construction, and other utility providers on the Country Club Road stormwater, roadway widening, and trail project between Union Street and Clifton-Glendale Road.

As this project has continued over the past six years, public frustration has understandably grown over repeated delays and disruptions. Throughout that time, SCDOT has frequently attributed project delays to "utilities" as a broad category. That characterization does not accurately reflect Spartanburg Water's experience or performance on this project.

At the beginning of the project, all utilities with infrastructure within the construction corridor were directed by SCDOT to identify conflicts and relocate facilities, based on timing set by SCDOT and Palmetto Construction, that would interfere with construction. For Spartanburg Water, those conflicts included water mains, hydrants, service lines, valves, fittings, and related infrastructure.

To prepare for this work, in early 2020, Spartanburg Water retained the services of Summit Engineering at significant cost, to develop a comprehensive Conflict Resolution Plan for our services. Our Collection & Distribution team performed extensive potholing, a process of digging small, exploratory holes to visually locate, verify depth and map underground utilities, to physically verify the location and elevation of existing infrastructure. Those findings were incorporated into detailed engineering drawings identifying conflict locations and depths, which were provided to both SCDOT and its contractor, Palmetto Construction. Spartanburg Water personnel also participated in numerous coordination meetings throughout the planning process.

Since construction began, Spartanburg Water has consistently responded to requests and completed relocation work as directed by either SCDOT or Palmetto Construction. Our crews have relocated approximately:
•1,800 linear feet of 12-inch water main
•10 fire hydrants
•73 water services
•14 additional identified conflicts
•Numerous valves and fittings
•Two additional water lines that were not included in the original conflict list

Importantly, Spartanburg Water completed these required relocations in early Spring of 2025, more than a year before the project reached its current stage of construction.

Despite completing our assigned work, our team has repeatedly encountered challenges outside of Spartanburg Water's control. These have included late notification of newly identified conflicts, delays awaiting work by other utility providers, repeated turnover in project management personnel, discrepancies between construction documents and field conditions, and instances where outdated or incorrect plans were referenced during construction.

More recently, Spartanburg Water crews have been required to return to Country Club Road to relocate infrastructure that had already been relocated and to perform additional potholing because utility elevations had not been properly verified by project contractors.

As CEO, I am incredibly proud of the professionalism and dedication our employees have demonstrated throughout this project. I also have a responsibility to defend the integrity of their work when broad public statements fail to distinguish between organizations that have performed their responsibilities and those issues that remain outside their control.
Spartanburg Water is funded entirely by the customers we serve. Every additional mobilization, relocation, and field investigation represents real costs that ultimately affect our ratepayers. For that reason, we believe it is important to provide a transparent, factual account of our involvement in this project. This statement is not intended to assign blame. Rather, it is intended to ensure that Spartanburg Water is accurately represented in discussions surrounding the Country Club Road project and is no longer broadly grouped into generalized references to "utilities" when describing project delays.

As of August 3, 2026, Spartanburg Water has identified 13 remaining utility conflicts within the unfinished portions of the project. Our engineering and operations teams have already developed strategies to address these remaining conflicts proactively and in-house, reducing reliance on contractor potholing and minimizing additional service disruptions for our customers. We will continue coordinating closely with SCDOT and Palmetto Construction with the goal of completing our remaining work ahead of the project's c