‘Malfunction Junction’ fix could mean S.C. buys part, or all, of 2,500 properties

As many as 2,500 parcels could be affected by improvements suggested by state transportation officials Tuesday to reduce congestion at the intersection of I-20, I-26 and I-126.

The impact on each piece of property could range from the state acquiring a few feet of land to actually demolishing structures.

Alternatives to fixing what’s there include building a connector road to the north between Harbison and Blythewood or building higher – elevating and stacking on and off ramps.

Some drivers are happy with many of the ideas displayed, a list that will be whittled down to a few finalists by summer.

“I like that they’re looking at it different ways,” Joyce Morrow of West Columbia said. “There are a lot of people working on this project to get it done right.”

Transportation officials have spent the past year considering various proposals, with a goal of starting construction in 2019.

If the Department of Transportation decides improving existing intersections and widening roads is the way to go, the bulk of the properties affected will be along Broad River and St. Andrews roads. Those two commercial thoroughfares parallel either side of I-26 in the heart of the busy corridor.

Widening Broad River would affect 999 sites, while another 705 would be affected on St. Andrews, according to plans outlined at an update on the massive road project at Seven Oaks School.

Expanding both roads to absorb extra traffic makes sense to some motorists.

“It’ll attract locals and make it easier for people traveling through on the highways to move on,” homeowner Jim McGehee of St. Andrews said.

Reducing problems at the heavily traveled intersection of the three interstates is the top goal of state transportation officials.

Congestion has led drivers to nickname the area “Malfunction Junction.”

Other major proposals under consideration to fix what transportation officials instead call “Carolina Crossroads” include:

▪ Reviving the idea of a connector road between I-26 in the Irmo area and I-77 in the Blythewood area to divert traffic away from where the three interstates meet. It would run roughly between Piney Grove Road and Killian Road.

▪ Altering a dozen intersections so traffic gets on and leaves faster. Some new entrance and exit ramps may be as high as a 50-foot tree, an elevation that officials say is necessary in tight quarters.

A look at additional lanes on the 14 miles of interstates and blending in a bit of mass transit is premature until the impact and cost of other options is clear, project manager Brian Klauk said.

“These are dots that we’re going to connect in coming months,” he said.

Some nearby areas a concerned with more than moving vehicles.

Neighborhood leaders are working to come up with a plan for noise barriers associated with whatever options are adopted.

And there’s concern that the project could send more stormwater into creeks in the Irmo-St. Andrews area that overflow often during downpours, said Art Guerry, president of the Whitehall Homeowners Association.

Construction could cost as much as $1.5 billion and take up to 7 years to complete, officials predict.

It’s one of the most complex road improvements state officials have undertaken, Klauk told more than 200 residents at the session.

The highways were built in the 1960s. Improvements were made from 1976-97 as more neighborhoods and stores rose along the routes.

But no one foresaw the number of vehicles today traveling the roads as the Columbia area grew and I-26 became a lifeline between Lowcountry ports and the Upstate manufacturing hub.

Up to 133,600 vehicles travel through the I-20/I-26 intersection daily, traffic studies say.

And population in the Columbia area is forecast to double to 1.2 million in the next 25 years, putting more drivers on the roads, officials say.

Robin Roberts of Irmo is looking forward to a smoother commute to work in downtown Columbia despite the prospect of enduring lengthy repairs.

“It isn’t going to be fun during that process,” she said. “It’s going to be a mess for a long while. But what choice do you have if you’re going to make a change?”

This story was originally published October 4, 2016 at 9:27 PM with the headline "‘Malfunction Junction’ fix could mean S.C. buys part, or all, of 2,500 properties."