SC’s ‘Malfunction Junction,’ future projects get bump from Biden’s $1T infrastructure bill
South Carolina leaders said the billions of dollars slated to come to the state from the federal infrastructure bill sent to President Joe Biden over the weekend will help pay for projects planned by transportation officials for years to come.
Secretary of Transportation Christy Hall celebrated the bill’s passage Monday as leaders gathered to break ground on one project that could benefit from the federal dollars: the reconfiguring of a section of interstate outside of Columbia, best known as “Malfunction Junction.”
“(W)e laid out our vision for infrastructure dating back to ... 2013,” Hall told reporters Monday. “This funding will come and basically help deliver those projects in cooperation and coordination with state funding.”
Hall said the state doesn’t plan to make major changes to its long term infrastructure plan due to the large cash windfall. Instead, the roughly $10 billion slated for the Palmetto State would support projects already on the calendar.
Hall added that the money might help get projects started faster, including plans for Interstate 26.
“Having a lot of money at one time without a plan, it’s not a great plan,” Hall said Monday. “Having the vision that we did to lay out that plan and now being able to execute, it is really what it’s all about for us.”
Late Friday night, the U.S. House voted to send the bipartisan infrastructure package to Biden’s desk after a 228-206 vote. The $1 trillion bill includes money for bridge and road repairs, electric vehicle charging station expansion, broadband expansion and public transportation expansion.
Hall expressed support for the bill after it passed the Senate, releasing a statement in August pushing for its passage. She said then the legislation would enable the state Department of Transportation to “improve safety, mobility and the quality of life for the residents, businesses and visitors” in South Carolina.
Ultimately, Republican U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham and House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn, D-Columbia, were the only members of South Carolina’s congressional delegation to support the package.
Gov. Henry McMaster expressed concerns Monday about the size of the $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure package.
But, he said, every dollar handed to South Carolina will be “carefully examined” to ensure it does “the most good for the most people over the longest period of time.” Specifically, McMaster said, he’d like to see the money go to roads projects, bridge repairs and expanding broadband.
“When we put money into infrastructure, that’s good,” McMaster said. “But when we waste money on things that are not critical, transformational and concrete for our future, that’s when we make errors.”
SC DOT breaks ground on ‘Malfunction Junction’
On Monday, state leaders broke ground on what will be a massive undertaking of fixing “Malfunction Junction.”
The project, slated to cost $1.6 billion, is set to be the largest infrastructure construction project in state history.
The state Department of Transportation said the agency will rebuild and improve 14 miles of road where Interstate 26, Interstate 126 and Interstate 20 connect near Columbia. In total, the five phase project could take eight years to complete.
“This has been a long time coming, but we’re here now,” McMaster told a crowd gathered for the project groundbreaking alongside the highway Monday afternoon.
He was joined by state lawmakers and U.S. Rep. Joe Wilson, R-Springdale, who said every time he travels on the interstate, “I grab my heart and hope that I make it through.”
“We get to say goodbye to ‘Malfunction Junction,’” Wilson said. “And this is really significant because this is the most widely traveled corridor in all of South Carolina and 134,000 cars a day.”
Hall said the agency long felt the project was too difficult to approach because it would take too long and cost too much.
For years, improvements were pushed off because the task was too behemoth to undertake.
But after a major agency reform and a cash flood from the state Legislature, Hall said the project was finally possible.
“Today, this entire team understands that what we are working on here is vitally important to our great state,” Hall said.
The next major urban pinch point project slated for construction is the Interstate 526 to I-26 in the Charleston area, Hall said.
