ORANGEBURG COUNTY, S.C. — On Tuesday, the South Carolina Department of Transportation held a groundbreaking ceremony for improvements to the I-26 and I-95 interchange in the Orangeburg and Dorchester County areas.
The project is supposed to reconstruct the existing system interchange at I-26 and I-95 and will include a full rebuild of the current ramps and acceleration and deceleration lane tie-ins with the mainline of both I-26 and I-95. This will also include the replacement of the bridge on Whetsell Pond Rd. over I-26.
The President of the Orangeburg County Chamber of Commerce, James Mcquilla, says the promise of an improved interchange could mean big things for his community.
“It will allow more people to consider Orangeburg as an option because by alleviating congestion, you may want to be here, but if you think it's going to be a hassle, then you're going to move a little bit further on down the line. We want to make it easier for people to stay in Orangeburg, not to visit Orangeburg, but to live in Orangeburg," McQuilla explained.
About 20 miles away in Santee, their community is hoping to reap some benefits from the interchange project as well.
Santee Town Council Member, Shirley Prezzy Small, says as a leader in the area she believes the interchange project will bring an economic boost.
“We are really excited about it, and I am also. Being that I'm on council, the new developments and everything in Santee, we are really excited about all the new coming to Santee," Small said with a smile.
Small’s daughter is the owner of the Santee Seafood Bistro so she has seen the impact of the interstate first hand.
"What we get mostly is the interstate... North and South, East and West, we get them coming from Charleston as well because we are a tourist town, so being that we are a tourist town we get a lot of people from different directions," Small explained.
The construction of the interchange improvements will happen over the next three years and is expected to be complete sometime in 2027.