COLUMBIA, S.C. — Midlands Connection and Carolina Crossroads are two South Carolina Department of Transportation projects that might affect your commute in and around Interstate 26.
Street Squad looked into the status of these projects.
"Hiring the contractors to build phases one and two is underway right now," said Brian Klauk, project manager over Carolina Crossroads. The Malfunction Junction makeover concentrates on reconfiguring 14 miles of the I20/26/126 corridor. "We will hire those contractors in the summer and fall of this year. Construction is going to start at the end of 21 and you'll see impacts on the interstate in early 2022," Klauk told Street Squad.
This project is on its original schedule and projected completion is in 2029.
Midlands Connection is a separate project that is currently in its construction phase. "This particular project is a 15/16 mile widening project on I26 in Richland, Newberry and Lexington Counties," Pete Poore with SCDOT told us. "The purpose of the project is to expand it from its current four lanes to six lanes. The 16 miles is divided into three phases, we are in phase one."
This project is on track set to be completed by 2024.
As far as COVID19's effect on the projects, Poore says, "The pandemic had some effect on SCDOT, but preparations were made in advance of that with the intent of keeping our construction program on pace, which is the case. We have not eliminated any projects. Our projects are still moving forward as they were expected to."
As far as cost, there was a revenue dip at one point but Poore says it was balanced in-house to keep the construction projects moving along.
Each of these projects has a website for all information and updates. Visit this website for Carolina Crossroads and this link for Midlands Connection.