$1.5 billion could fix Malfunction Junction. But how long will it last?

Improvements coming at Malfunction Junction promise to ease congestion at Columbia’s main traffic headache through 2040 and perhaps beyond that, state transportation officials say.

Plans call for the intersection of I-20, I-26 and I-126 to be able to handle slightly more than 160,000 vehicles daily when the upgrades are complete. It’s the first time officials have suggested how many more vehicles the fix is designed to handle.

That’s an increase from 141,000 today in its most congested sections, according to state traffic counts.

The package of improvements slated to be finished by 2026 was developed with growth in mind, said Brian Klauk, the engineer overseeing the $1.5 billion project.

“It will be built not only for 2040 but with some resilience into the future beyond that,” he said. “2040 is not the breaking point when it would cease to function well.”

Population in the area will increase by a third to one million in 2035, the Central Midlands Council of Governments predicts. Much of that growth is expected in central Lexington County and northeast Richland County.

The fixes proposed for Malfunction Junction include new freeway-style ramps for commuters and wider frontage roads. Both will be designed to separate local traffic from motorists and cargo haulers passing through town, officials say.

Those features should help keep traffic flowing through and around where the three interstates meet with minimal congestion beyond 2040, Klauk said.

Some lawmakers and traffic experts are crossing their fingers that forecast turns out to be accurate.

“Some things like this, you have to hold your breath that they don’t miss it,” said state Rep. Chip Huggins, a Republican from Irmo. His area is home to thousands of commuters who travel through Malfunction Junction regularly.

It’s hard to say if the package of improvements will prove adequate as expected, but “at the end of the day, it will help,” AAA Carolinas spokeswoman Tiffany Wright said.

Still unsettled are what path will be used where I-20 and I-26 meet as state transportation officials consider two options with slightly different designs.

One eliminates the cloverleaf exits and on-ramps, replacing them with longer ramps for merging traffic. It was rated the best in computer simulations of traffic flow. The other modifies the cloverleaf exits with extended ramps.

State officials will pick one by March.

Plans call for work to start in 2019 and take up to seven years to complete. It’s one of the most complex road improvements state officials have undertaken.

Other improvements include:

▪  Adding another lane each way on I-26 from I-126 to Broad River Road near Irmo.

▪  Eliminating the interchange for Bush River Road off I-26, a spot that officials describe as forcing motorists to weave too much among lanes. The nearby Colonial Life Boulevard interchange would be reconfigured to replace it.

The ramps, frontage road improvements and wider I-26 would nearly double lanes headed in both directions in some areas.

Motorists will endure inconvenience during the seven years of road work, but the result will be “less congestion and safer roads,” Wright said.

This story was originally published December 8, 2017 at 10:33 AM with the headline "$1.5 billion could fix Malfunction Junction. But how long will it last?."