Bridge replacement work between Columbia and Sumter now underway. What to know
The South Carolina Department of Transportation has begun work to replace an aging bridge on a route between Columbia and Sumter.
The bridge on Garners Ferry Road over McCords Ferry Road is “structurally deficient,” according to the transportation department. Crews have begun work on storm drainage, as well as preparing paving efforts for two new ramps that will be used to keep traffic moving during the bridge replacement. The replacement effort will take about 14 months while the transportation department works to build a bridge that meets modern safety standards.
The work is not expected to dramatically change the flow of traffic on U.S. 378/U.S. 76, the highways that travel over the bridge. DOT will reroute traffic onto two “newly constructed off-ramps” creating two lanes of uninterrupted traffic, one lane moving in each direction, the department announced.
“Through traffic will continue smoothly from the ramps back onto US 76/378,” according to the department.
According to DOT data, a daily average of 19,100 vehicles travel along Garners Ferry Road near the bridge over McCords Ferry.
The department of transportation hopes to modernize hundreds of dated bridges across South Carolina in the next decade, with multiple other bridge replacements and repairs expected throughout Richland County as well.
Other bridge replacement projects on the horizon include a bridge on River Drive over the CSX railroad, between the Earlewood and Elmwood Park neighborhoods, and the replacement of the Blossom Street bridge over Norfolk Southern and CSX railroads in downtown Columbia, which has been in the preliminary stages since about 2019 but likely won’t start construction until after 2030, according to a map on the department’s website.
