CAYCE, S.C. — The city of Cayce and the town of Springdale have an agreement to maintain the Airport Boulevard Gateway Project, an effort to beautify the street leading to the airport.
The one-mile stretch from I-26 to the airport will soon have trees, flowers and bushes along both sides of the street. Project leaders say the planting will start this fall.
Homeowners and business owners are getting excited about a whole new look that's coming to Airport Boulevard.
"I think it's great. We've got the airport. I think it should look nicer, coming out of the airport, maybe even a few nicer hotels would even be good," said Jan Zeigler, who lives near Airport Boulevard.
"I can't wait til they start planting," said Glenn Culley, owner of Chance's Bar and Grill.
Project leaders said this is just the first stretch of road being revamped of eight total corridor projects.
This one costs about $1 million. Midlands Business Leadership Group and Lexington County are covering the bill, with the city of Cayce and the town of Springdale covering the maintenance -- largely irrigation and landscape pruning -- after the first year.
"I think having travelers come from the airport to our city is important that we set the image of our region, the Midlands region, and so this begins to set the expectation of what the rest of the city is like," said Mickey Layden, the CEO or the project management company LCK.
Layden said the hope is that everything will be finished by the end of next summer.
"Some people might look at it and go, 'Oh, why are you spending money on plants?' But that's not spending money on plants," Cayce Mayor Elise Partin said. That's actually spending money on economic development. We know that businesses will come where local governments are investing,"
Layden said the contract will be out for bid in the next 30 days.
"I think there's been a big emphasis on beautification, livability," Springdale municipal clerk LeeAnn Kelly said. "People want to be where there are beautiful sights to be seen and just things that make you feel good, and I think beautiful landscaping is one of those things."
Project leaders said drivers will experience slight inconveniences while this work is being done, but they say the end product will be well worth it.