Transportation officials to restructure I-26 project in Columbia

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South Carolina Department of Transportation officials are restructuring the Carolina Crossroads project to improve project delivery and accelerate the widening of Interstates 26 and 20 in the Midlands.

SCDOT designed the Carolina Crossroads project to advance through a series of phases of construction, according to an SCDOT news release. The benefit of this phased approach is the opportunity to use valuable information gathered during the initial phases of the project to enhance and improve future phases, the release stated.

To that end, the department is updating the current plan and resequencing the remaining phases of the project to accelerate work along I-20 and I-26 while utility coordination and project development continues in the main interchange area. The accelerated widening along these corridors will be designed to tie in with other widening projects that are reaching milestones ahead of schedule.

“Our commitment to this important project has not wavered. Carolina Crossroads is one of the largest infrastructure projects in our state’s history,” Secretary of Transportation Christy A. Hall said in the release. “First and foremost, we have a responsibility to deliver the project as efficiently and cost-effectively as possible. With this new project structure and schedule, we feel confident we are going to improve the overall program. We are still moving forward on this critical project and making significant progress on improving South Carolina’s interstate system.”

The details of the new project sequence and schedule are actively being developed and are expected to be available in early 2024. In the meantime, construction on the first two phases will continue to move forward unimpeded, the release stated.

Updates on the project can be found by clicking here.