The State Newspaper by Sarah Ellis

Richland County’s penny-on-the-dollar transportation tax has generated $111.9 million since collection began in May 2013.

The majority of the money – a 22-year total expected to exceed $1 billion – is going toward road and intersection improvements, with other portions being spent on public transit, pedestrian, bike and greenway projects.

This year and next will see the first major projects start to come out of the ground.

Work is already started or planned to begin soon on projects that include the Greene Street beautification in downtown’s Vista, the widening of portions of Hard Scrabble Road and North Main Street and a half-dozen intersection improvements throughout the county.