The name is settled for the new Woodruff Road bypass that will connect a collection of dead-end service streets via traffic circles to help motorists avoid the gridlocked corridor.

"Parallel Parkway."

But the decision ended just about how the whole naming process has gone so far over the past couple months — with lukewarm sentiment that no one wished they were forced to muster.

The city Planning Commission's vote was split Thursday on naming the half-mile parkway that will connect Verdae Boulevard with the heaviest commercial section of Woodruff Road at Magnolia Park.

"It's a pretty significant road that has an insignificant name," commissioner Meg Terry said before voting no, joining the commission's chairman, David Keller, in almost indifferent opposition.

Even the person who made the motion to approve the name did so tepidly: "It's not a great name," commissioner Katherine Smith said.

It was a 4-2 decision that would have failed on a tie — because of one commissioner's absence — if not for the affirmative vote of a new commissioner who was told she had no choice but to vote.

Shontavia Jackson Johnson, serving in her first commission meeting, at first requested to abstain from voting. When told she could only abstain because of a conflict of interest, she voted yes.

A tie would have sent city staffers back to the drawing board after spending a month sifting through as many as 300 potential names and quickly approaching the summer opening of the parkway and the need to order street signs, City Engineer Dwayne Cooper said.

This will be the languid legacy of the name of what will be one of Greenville's most-prominent thoroughfares along its most-notoriously congested commercial corridor.

If it seems simple enough to the name the road, Cooper illustrated for the commission just how difficult the effort has been.

Last month, city staffers presented the name "Connection Parkway" for the parkway that will use three traffic circles to connect Woodruff Industrial Lane behind Target to Green Heron Road and Ketron Court, which all currently are dead ends.

The reception for Connection Parkway was spiritless, to say the least.

Then, the off-the-cuff suggestions began.

First, Mayor Knox White alluded to possibly naming it "Hollingsworth Parkway," after the Hollingsworth trust fund that owns much of the Verdae area after the gift of the late J.D. Hollingsworth.

Then, The Greenville News solicited readers for names, which Cooper said resulted in both humorous and helpful suggestions, but too many duplications.

And duplication proved to be the problem throughout.

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In past decades, new roads could have similar names — for instance, the roads and streets all named "Augusta"-something around Augusta Road.

However, Greenville County's modern requirements for consistency for 911 emergency response requires uniqueness, Cooper said.

That means no use, he said, of the words "Woodruff" or "Verdae" or "Hollingsworth," which was duplicated only because of a small street nearby named Hollingsworth Drive.

After that, he said, "there aren't that many names left. It's proven very difficult, actually."

Thus far, the bypass has been referred to as the "PNG Connector," which is in reference to Piedmont Natural Gas, which first proposed a small service road because congestion hampered the utility's ability to dispatch trucks from its location behind the Target superstore.

The utility located to its site in the 1980s and didn't expect to face chronic gridlock brought by loosely planned commercial growth.

It was a temporary name for a thoroughfare that will be a prominent fixture for years to come.

Terry said the name "PNG Parkway" would "sound pretty snazzy."

Cooper said the city considered using PNG, but the gas company has since been bought by Duke Energy and could change the utility's name, which in future years would be puzzling.

Parallel Parkway

Two facts came to light in suggesting "Parallel Parkway."

For years, the state Department of Transportation has planned a $34 million alternate bypass route it has called the "Woodruff Road Parallel" — a far larger-scale project than the $2.6 million "Parallel Parkway" and at least four years away from beginning construction.

The project would begin where the Parallel Parkway connector ends at Woodruff Industrial Lane and could blend well in the end, Cooper said.

Also, he said, the city's "Parallel Parkway" name can be easily changed in the future because there will be no addresses along its path to Verdae Boulevard.

Nevertheless, progress on the parkway is being made now that weather has been drier than the wet winter that delayed work, Cooper said.

The city has heard concern from the public about the effectiveness of traffic circles — less-common in the Upstate than other regions of the country — but Cooper said "I promise they're going to work great."

The project will include construction of a right-turn lane on Verdae Boulevard and a right-turn lane on Woodruff Industrial Lane, as well as improvements to Woodruff Industrial Lane from the intersection of the new road to the existing curb and gutter.

The Ketron Court connection will allow access to Costco, and like Woodruff Industrial Lane to Magnolia Park, it won't require any travel on Woodruff Road.

Stream restoration

The parkway will be landscaped in the middle and will involve some stream restoration, Cooper said.

It will also have an extra path for pedestrians and cyclists after the city last month committed an additional $410,000 to install the 10-foot-wide multi-use path.

The overall $2.6 million parkway project is being paid for with a mix of funding from the public and private sector.

Piedmont Natural Gas contributed $1.3 million, with $400,000 each contributed by the city, county and state funding. Verdae Properties and the Hollingsworth Fund contributed a little more than $300,000 and Magnolia Park $200,000.

Follow Eric on Twitter @cericconnor