Columbia, SC (WLTX) - The South Carolina Department of Transportation (SCDOT) has two different plans to fix the troubled intersection of I-26 and I-20 known as Malfunction Junction but they would cost one man his home.
“This is home you know,” Ronald Kendall said of the house he has been living in since 1968.
“Be a pretty bad impact on me and my wife,” he said.
He lives near the intersection of Fairhaven and Gale Drives, right next to I-20.
He could lose his home to the Carolina Crossroads project which is working to improve traffic around Malfunction Junction.
The options both include widening I-26 with an additional lane, and removes the direct connection between Bush River Road and I-26.
The first option eliminates all loops. The second reconfigure a few. Both include a new interchange at Colonial Life Boulevard.
Both options would force Kendall out.
"There's some points where we need to make the interstate larger,” Brian Klauk with SCDOT said. “We really want to work closely with those homeowners and make sure that they get due process of law and fair market value.”
Klauk said the department would work to come to an “amicable settlement" with the residents who are impacted.
“Devastated I guess I'd called it,” Kendall explained sadly. “I planned to finish the rest of my life here with my wife, I just can’t imagine having to move.”
SCDOT is collecting feedback and will then come up with one plan and present it to the public early next year.
SCDOT leaders said the project is more than $1 billion and construction should be complete within 5-7 years.
To see the options, please visit: http://www.scdotcarolinacrossroads.com/