Two major projects intended to update and make safer busy thoroughfares in the Midlands are nearing completion years after they initially began.
Four years after nightly road closures started, all lanes along a 16-mile stretch of Interstate 26 between Irmo and Little Mountain have reopened, the South Carolina Department of Transportation announced Dec. 20. The project, known as the Midlands Connection, included widening parts of the interstate and modifying three interchanges and seven overpass bridges.
“All of these improvements were designed to make travel through this area safer and more efficient,” a spokesperson for DOT said.
The $421 million project widened I-26 from four lanes to six lanes along exit 85 to exit 97 and doubled the interstate to eight lanes from exit 97 to exit 101. It was originally scheduled to be done by the end of 2023.
“Several delays occurred beyond the control of the contractor and the completion date was adjusted to account for those delays,” the DOT spokesperson said, noting delays like this are not uncommon.