SC crews set date for $20M rehab of aging downtown Greenville bridge. Here are the details

A long-awaited project to fix an aging bridge that skirts downtown Greenville will get underway in mid-April and extend into mid-2026.

The South Carolina Department of Transportation will spend about $20 million to redo the landmark U.S. 29 Bridge, which was built in 1959, and replace the lighting.

Also known as the Church Street Bridge, the bridge extends 0.32 miles from Washington Street to Camperdown Way.

The work will include steel girder painting, joint sealing, spall repair, barrier/sidewalk replacement and bridge deck rehabilitation with hydrodemolition with concrete overlay to improve the poor condition of the deck concrete.

One side of the sidewalk will be increased to 9 feet wide from 5 feet, and stairs down to McBee Street will be replaced.

Two lanes of the four-lane bridge will remain open during construction until May 1, 2026 when the deck is replaced. It will be closed for six weeks.

“As the bridge has aged, and traffic volumes have increased, the condition of the structure has deteriorated to the point that a large-scale rehabilitation is necessary,” DOT said on its website.

Average daily volume was 26,300 vehicles in 2021. DOT predicts there will be 38,000 on the road by 2039.

“Based on the Federal Highway Administration’s InfoBridge Database, the bridge no longer meets current design and safety standards and the structure is currently considered only to be in fair condition,” DOT said.

This story was originally published February 27, 2025 at 6:00 AM.