Malfunction Junction repairs not the only major highway project set for I-26

Overshadowed by the S.C. Department of Transportation's massive $1.5 billion effort to untangle Columbia's notorious "Malfunction Junction" interchange at I-20, I-26 and I-126 is another big highway improvement project.

Beginning in 2020 and ending fours years later, workers will widen I-26 for 16 miles from Broad River Road northwest to Little Mountain. That widening project would link with the Malfunction Junction project — officially called Carolina Crossroads — at Exit 101, Broad River Road.

Both projects are expected to begin in 2020.

Although public hearings have been held on the extended I-26 widening project, many folks who regularly roll up to Greenville and Spartanburg from the capital city, or vice versa, probably don't know that their trek is going to be more difficult for a long time before it gets a lot better.

"We're flying under the radar a little," project manager Michael Hood said.

The $530 million project begins at Exit 101, which is U.S. 176., in Irmo. That's where the Malfunction Junction project will end.

The existing two lanes on each side of the highway will be widened to four lanes for a total eight-lane section of highway to Broad River Road, which is the Peak exit.

The road will be widened to six lanes for the remaining 12 miles from U.S. 176 to S.C. 202 at Little Mountain. Future plans envision a widened highway all the way to Newberry.

In addition to the widening project, three interchanges will be reconfigured: Exit 97, Broad River Road; Exit 91, Columbia Avenue, Chapin; and Exit 85, S.C. 202 at Little Mountain.

"They will all be reconstructed as a part of the project," Hood said.

In addition, seven overpass bridges along the corridor will be reconstructed as part of the project.

"The purpose and need for the project is to increase capacity for a developing area, to correct geometric deficiencies along the line of the interstate and to improve safety for the traveling public," Hood said.

The Malfunction Junction and I-26 widening projects are part of an extensive renovation of the Columbia area's freeway grid as the city continues to grow.

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.

Two other major road projects — the widening of I-20 and I-77 in the Midlands — began within a month of each other in 2016.

SCDOT engineers are widening I-20 from four to six lanes for 11 miles from just west of Longs Pond Road to just west of U.S. 378. But engineering troubles on the highway have moved the $99 million Lexington County project's completion date from 2019 to 2020.

On I-77, a 7-mile widening project in Richland County is expected to be completed by Sept. 30.

Begun on March 6, 2016, the $88 million project will widen the highway from two lanes to three lanes in each direction from Percival Road north to S.C. 277. It will expand to four lanes in each direction from S.C. 277 to Killian Road.

This story was originally published April 20, 2018 at 4:45 PM with the headline "Malfunction Junction repairs not the only major highway project set for I-26."