WATCH NOW: S.C. kicks off $2 billion I-26 widening project; McMaster: ‘Commerce is thriving’

Standing atop an Interstate 26 overpass, Gov. Henry McMaster signaled for an excavator operator to officially commence work below.

“Hit it, brother,” McMaster said into the radio he was holding during a press conference on Tuesday morning.

The S.C. General Assembly in June approved spending nearly $2 billion on the widening of Interstate 26.

That includes expanding a majority of the four-lane interstate to six lanes between Charleston and Columbia. The I-26 widening will include several counties, including Orangeburg and Calhoun.

In an interview after the press conference, S.C. Secretary of Transportation Christy A. Hall said the state will likely begin soliciting bids at the end of 2023 for a portion of the project to improve I-26 from Columbia.

Tuesday’s event at the Cypress Campground Road overpass kicked off the official start of the entire 70-mile project.

The first part of the I-26 widening project will cover seven miles between the Jedburg exit and S.C. Highway 27, Hall said.

That part costs $218 million.

“It’s designed to help alleviate traffic flow and help support the growth that is occurring in this fast-growing region of our state and improve safety,” Hall said.

The first part of the project also includes upgrading the SC-27 interchange, Hall added.

Within 30 days of the General Assembly approving the funds for the project, the S.C. Department of Transportation began the bid process to hire a construction company.

Hall said the bid was awarded to Banks Construction, a Charleston-based company.

Approximately $13 million of the work on the first part of the project will be done by small and minority-owned South Carolina businesses, Hall said, citing a pledge made by Banks Construction.

“Not only is this project being built by South Carolina firms, but the overwhelming majority of the materials that will go into building this magnificent interstate will be sourced right here from South Carolina,” Hall said.

“Concrete, steel, asphalt, rock, cement – all of that’s homegrown and is amplifying the economic impact of just a single road project,” Hall said.

I-26 was built 60 years ago, she said.

“In that time, traffic has increased and the 70-mile long segment of South Carolina’s interstate network has, at times, become plagued with congestion, delays and accidents,” Hall said.

She noted that I-26 carries more than 22 million vehicles per year, which includes about 7 million trucks.

“That number has grown by more than 30 percent in just the past decade alone,” she said.

Hall said the initial plan called for widening 70 miles of I-26 in a few segments every few years all the way to 2034.

With the plan now accelerated, the total project is now six years ahead of schedule, she said.

The actual construction work in the first part of the project won’t get underway until after rights-of-ways are cleared and utilities are relocated along the seven-mile stretch.

Hall said that process may take about six months, so construction won’t begin until next summer.

Four bridges, including the SC-27 overpass, will be replaced in the first part of the project, too.

After construction gets underway for the first phase, the bid process will start for the widening of I-26 from Columbia.

After that, the project will then jump to readying the I-26/Interstate 95 interchange to complement the I-26 widening project.

McMaster said, “In a nutshell, this is the result of vision, common sense, talent and determination by the people that are here today.”

“Commerce is thriving in South Carolina,” he said.

“We’re entering an era of great economic prosperity that we haven’t seen before,” McMaster said.

He concluded his remarks with, “In the words of that famous philosopher Larry the Cable Guy, we’ll ‘Get her done.’”