South Carolina takes the wheel on modernizing its roads

After decades of stop-and-go progress on transportation funding, South Carolina has, over the past year, accelerated into a new era of statewide highway improvement, and at last we will see the fruits of it on I-95 between Exit 8 and the Savannah River.

The South Carolina Department of Transportation (SCDOT) has officially broken ground on its largest contract ever with the $825-million widening and modernization of Interstate 95 at the South Carolina-Georgia line. The project will add a lane in each direction along the 10-mile stretch from the Georgia side of the river to U.S. Route 278, plus several interchange upgrades and bridge replacements.

More than 64,000 vehicles currently travel this section daily, many of them freight trucks. Our SC Secretary of Transportation, Justin Powell once called the stretch of highway “one of the most notorious choke points on the entire Maine to Miami corridor.” The improvements are designed not only to ease congestion but also to prepare the corridor for projected 2050 traffic volumes as the Lowcountry continues to grow.

Additionally, while bulldozers are rolling in the Lowcountry, state lawmakers in Columbia are laying the groundwork for a longer-term fix to how South Carolina plans, funds, and manages its roadways. This summer, House Speaker Murrell Smith appointed a bipartisan SCDOT Modernization Committee to determine how SCDOT can better serve the needs of the Palmetto State’s rapidly growing population.

My good friend Shannon Erickson, Beaufort’s state representative, is co-chair of the committee. She and her panel have been traversing the state, gathering testimony from citizens, engineers, and business leaders, examining where things are going well and where they are not.

The need is obviously pressing. South Carolina maintains the fourth-largest state-owned road network in the USA —41,000 miles—even though it is the 11th smallest state. And with a population growth that ranks among the nation’s fastest, the strain on infrastructure is mounting.

Since lawmakers raised the gas tax in 2017 (for the first time in 30 years) the South Carolina has repaved nearly 10,000 miles of roadway and reduced fatalities by 20 percent on completed projects. But those funds were mostly targeted at long-delayed repairs, not new capacity.

Now, the focus is shifting to expansion and efficiency.

Transportation officials and lawmakers alike say the goal is not just to build more roads, but to build them smarter—coordinating both local and state priorities, and potentially giving counties greater responsibility for maintaining local roads. I agree with Shannon who has said in many cases local governments could do it more efficiently, but the challenge is helping them afford it.

This I-95 project matters greatly to Beaufort County and Hilton Head Island as a significant quality-of-life and economic milestone. The new six-lane highway will ease the frustration of getting to the Savannah Airport and for seasonal vacationers reaching our island.

For residents, overall roadway improvements mean fewer backups and safer bridges with travel more predictable and less stressful — especially during tourist season or hurricane evacuations.

Jeff Bradley is the representative for District 123 in the State House of Representatives.