COLUMBIA, S.C. — Drivers fleeing the coast on Interstate 26 are apparently so frustrated by heavy traffic, their crossing over into the opposite reversed lanes to try and get an easier path to get away.
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The South Carolina Department of Public Safety tweeted a video Monday showing drivers crossing from the westbound lanes of I-26 over to the eastbound lanes. State troopers reversed the eastbound lanes at 10:30 a.m. to allow people to leave the coast to comply with the governor's mandatory evacuation order.
The order affects some 830,000 people in South Carolina, and comprises the entire coast of the state, including Hilton Head, Charleston, and Myrtle Beach.
The lane reversal begins in Charleston where I-26 and I-526 meet, and continues up to Columbia where I-26 and I-77 meet.
But traffic cameras showed that most of the traffic was still in the westbound lanes, while only relatively light traffic was in the eastbound lanes. When SCDPS tweeted their video of the people crossing the median, and said that the agency would ticket drivers who do this, some people on Twitter said it had taken them between four to six hours to drive from Columbia to Charleston.
At a news conference Thursday, state leaders said the reversal had been smooth. SCDPS Directory Leroy Smith warned people that crossing into the other lanes could be dangerous.
"Crossing the median could be very catastrophic because there's cars traveling in the same direction so we would caution folks not to do that," Smith said.
Dorian is forecast to move just off the state's coast late Wednesday into Thursday. It will bring tropical storm force winds and heavy rain to the coast, but impacts further inland are expected to be much less.
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