Get ready for another round of traffic changes from I-77 bridge work in Columbia
Beginning Friday evening, the southbound stretch of Interstate 77 between Interstate 26 and Bluff Road will close for repairs.
The South Carolina Department of Transportation will close 5 miles of the southbound I-77 lane for nine days, beginning at 9 p.m. April 14 and lasting through April 23.
The work is meant to repair eight aging bridge decks on the interstate.
At the start of April, crews repaired nine bridge decks for the same stretch of I-77 northbound. That work created a traffic headache for many Columbia drivers, with one person calling the traffic “craptastic” on Twitter, and many others taking to social media as well to share their frustrations.
The first closure detoured drivers using I-26 westbound, I-20 eastbound and SC. 277 northbound. This second round of closures will detour drivers on the same roads, going in the reverse direction.
This time around, the transportation department is also adjusting traffic on Garners Ferry Road and Leesburg Road to make accessing I-77 northbound more efficient, according to the agency.
“The cut-through from Garner’s Ferry to Leesburg Road will be closed and westbound traffic on Garner’s Ferry will access I-77 Northbound by turning right onto Leesburg Road and then making a left onto the I-77 Northbound on-ramp,” a statement from the SCDOT reads.
The changes are already in effect and meant to make driving in the area more safe and efficient, the statement adds.
Maps showing the detour routes can be found at the webpage for the project on the Department of Transportation’s website.
