South Carolina

[afone]

The U.S. 25 widening in Edgefield County is underway...

South Carolina Department of Transportation says widening the highway to four lanes will increase safety for drivers, but it will also bring economic growth to the area.

"With the industrial parks, we would encourage them to come in with this, it would allow for faster delivery for products and goods," said Tom Dorn, Resident Construction Engineer with SCDOT.

Dorn said with pressing road projects throughout the state, funding was hard to get for this expensive project, but more lanes are needed.

"Currently, it's about 20 percent truck traffic, it is expected to increase about 50 percent in average daily traffic over the next 20 years, and with this project we are going to reduce congestion," said Dorn.

The goal is to make a smoother connection from Greenville to Augusta, bringing more people through the county.

"I think it will be a big improvement for exposure for my business and other businesses on the road," said Griffin.

The project is expected to be completed in August of 2017. SCDOT says there will be limited lane closures and the roadway will remain open as construction rotates between the old and new lanes.

http://www.wjbf.com/story/28241944/construction-begins-on-30-million-highway-widening-project

[afone]

Sen. Ray Cleary's plan raises the state's gas tax 10 cents and allows it to continue to increase with inflation. It also raises the sales tax cap on automobile purchases from $300 to $1,400, eliminates dozens of sales tax exemptions and increases the fees for car registrations and drivers' licenses.
All of his ideas would cost the average driver in South Carolina about an extra $65 per year, said Cleary, a Republican.
"It's a lot less than that to get a front-end alignment,"  said Sen. Joel Lourie, D-Columbia.
Cleary said his bill, which will be filed this week, will net somewhere between $700 million and $800 million a year – about twice the $400 million that plans by the House and Gov. Nikki Haley would raise. Leaders at the Department of Transportation have said $400 million is enough money to keep the state's roads in their current condition. The DOT has said closer to $1.5 billion a year is needed to get South Carolina roads to good condition by 2040.

http://chronicle.augusta.com/news/metro/2015-03-03/senator-plans-bill-raise-800-million-year-sc-roads?v=1425416277

[PColumbus73]

The Grand Strand has it's first FYA, it is in front of Conway High School.

[WashuOtaku]

The Grand Strand has it's first FYA, it is in front of Conway High School.

FYA?  Fried Yolanda's Artichokes?

[froggie]

Flashing Yellow Arrow, something you've probably seen yourself by now since NCDOT is getting more prolific with them.

[WashuOtaku]

Flashing Yellow Arrow, something you've probably seen yourself by now since NCDOT is getting more prolific with them.

Oh.  Yes, they are very common in the Charlotte area.

[wriddle082]

So it looks like they are planning on widening I-77 in the Columbia area from SC 12 Percival Rd (Exit 15) to Blythewood Rd (Exit 22)...

http://info.scdot.org/PressRelease/Lists/Posts/Post.aspx?ID=1916

[Zzonkmiles]

So it looks like they are planning on widening I-77 in the Columbia area from SC 12 Percival Rd (Exit 15) to Blythewood Rd (Exit 22)...

http://info.scdot.org/PressRelease/Lists/Posts/Post.aspx?ID=1916

Awesome news. For those who can't access the link, it looks like the following things are scheduled:

1. Widening I-77 from Percival Road to Killian Road from 4 to 6 lanes.
2. Resurfacing I-77 from Percival Road to Blythewood Road.
3. Improving exit ramps and 10 bridges. (Let's hope the Killian Road bridge and Farrow Road bridge are on this list.)

[Zzonkmiles]

For those of you who live in or travel through Columbia and need to get to Richmond or Washington DC, do you prefer to go I-20/95 or I-77/85/95? Mapquest says 20/95 is slightly shorter, but I just don't like I-95 in NC. Traffic doesn't flow as easily and the road just seems to drag on. After all the widening and road construction, I-85 between Charlotte and Greensboro is much more pleasant. If this way is longer, it's only by maybe 15 minutes or so. So my vote goes to I-77/85/95, but I'm curious to see what you all think.

[The Nature Boy]

For those of you who live in or travel through Columbia and need to get to Richmond or Washington DC, do you prefer to go I-20/95 or I-77/85/95? Mapquest says 20/95 is slightly shorter, but I just don't like I-95 in NC. Traffic doesn't flow as easily and the road just seems to drag on. After all the widening and road construction, I-85 between Charlotte and Greensboro is much more pleasant. If this way is longer, it's only by maybe 15 minutes or so. So my vote goes to I-77/85/95, but I'm curious to see what you all think.

I'd be skeptical of I-85 being all that much faster actually. Rush hour traffic in Charlotte and the Triangle can get pretty bad. If you time it right, you'll be fine though.

I-95 in North Carolina is in desperate need of a widening, but it's a great drive if you like pine trees.

[Alex]

For those of you who live in or travel through Columbia and need to get to Richmond or Washington DC, do you prefer to go I-20/95 or I-77/85/95? Mapquest says 20/95 is slightly shorter, but I just don't like I-95 in NC. Traffic doesn't flow as easily and the road just seems to drag on. After all the widening and road construction, I-85 between Charlotte and Greensboro is much more pleasant. If this way is longer, it's only by maybe 15 minutes or so. So my vote goes to I-77/85/95, but I'm curious to see what you all think.

Have done both corridors. The I-95 aspect can be a bear depending upon the season due to it just being just four lanes. If it were December, I'd definitely avoid it unless you were to travel it late at night.

I-85, well as Ric Flair wrote above, can give you the peak hour issue of traffic to contend with. However with that stated, I-85 is vastly more interesting, and its four-lane stretch through Virginia is somewhat lightly traveled. More work is slated for the route through Salisbury too, so if you want to avoid construction, there's basically none on I-20/95 vs. the I-85 widening/interchange redesign work.

[1995hoo]

For those of you who live in or travel through Columbia and need to get to Richmond or Washington DC, do you prefer to go I-20/95 or I-77/85/95? Mapquest says 20/95 is slightly shorter, but I just don't like I-95 in NC. Traffic doesn't flow as easily and the road just seems to drag on. After all the widening and road construction, I-85 between Charlotte and Greensboro is much more pleasant. If this way is longer, it's only by maybe 15 minutes or so. So my vote goes to I-77/85/95, but I'm curious to see what you all think.

I tend to use neither, due partly to boredom with I-95 and I-85 and partly to the unpredictability of the traffic on I-95 between Richmond and DC. I attended law school in Durham and so I used to make the I-85/I-95 trip to Northern Virginia all the time and it simply holds no interest at all for me anymore.

If I want to go from the DC area to Columbia or vice versa, I've taken a real liking to using US-29 through Virginia and on down to Greensboro, then I-85 and I-77. I have not made the trip between Richmond and Columbia, but it'd be easy to use US-360 from Danville up to the Richmond vicinity and then connect as needed (it dumps you at Route 288 southwest of Richmond; 288 connects to I-95 and I-64, and to the Powhite Parkway for direct access towards downtown if you don't mind a toll).

Both of these routes add some time over the Interstate, to be sure, because you can't drive as fast (most of US-29 in Virginia is posted at 60 mph with short 65-mph segments and a lone 70-mph segment near Lynchburg). But there also isn't any traffic. US-29 from Danville to Lynchburg is one of the emptiest major roads in this part of the country. The downside of that, of course, is that there isn't enough other traffic to grab the cops' attention. I do see speed enforcement every time I use that road, which is why it adds time over the Interstate.

If I needed to use the Interstate route, I would use the I-77 to I-85 route, perhaps using some other route to detour around the Charlotte area if I were going to arrive there during peak hours. Last time I was through Charlotte there was still construction on I-85 northeast of the city, as Alex mentioned. US-1 from Rockingham up to Raleigh is a decent route, as is the US-220/I-73 corridor between Rockingham and Greensboro, but you have the problem of getting there. It's out of the way to go up to Charlotte and then across, but the two-lane roads in South Carolina south of Rockingham add significant time due to the need to go slowly through some towns like Cheraw (pleasant enough looking place, but slow!). Aside from the construction near Charlotte and the rush-hour traffic, though, I-85 through North Carolina is a vastly better road than I-95 in the same state.

[wriddle082]

For those of you who live in or travel through Columbia and need to get to Richmond or Washington DC, do you prefer to go I-20/95 or I-77/85/95? Mapquest says 20/95 is slightly shorter, but I just don't like I-95 in NC. Traffic doesn't flow as easily and the road just seems to drag on. After all the widening and road construction, I-85 between Charlotte and Greensboro is much more pleasant. If this way is longer, it's only by maybe 15 minutes or so. So my vote goes to I-77/85/95, but I'm curious to see what you all think.

The current I-85 construction just NE of Charlotte up to Concord/Kannapolis is just wrapping up.  All that's left is opening up the final stretch of I-485 (thus finishing that interchange) and some minor finishing up work at some interchanges.  Other than that, I'm not exactly sure when they will start turning dirt the rest of the way from Concord/Kannapolis up to China Grove where it goes back to 8 lanes, but it might be next year.

My experience with Charlotte is getting through from about 9:30 AM to 3 PM on weekdays is best along I-77.  If you hit it during afternoon rush, jump on I-277 Brookshire Frwy to cut over to US 29 N Tryon St to get around that awful 77/85 interchange, then jump back on 85 at Sugar Creek Rd or NC 24 Harris Blvd.  The widened stretch of 85 flows very well.  Then there may be some resurfacing around Lexington, but going around Greensboro, Burlington, and Durham (I think) should be just fine.

I've driven US 1 between Rockingham and Camden a lot.  It's not only slow, but rough as hell.  It desperately needs resurfacing through all of Chesterfield County.  I've always thought it needs to be widened, or even made a freeway, through here to stimulate some growth.

Long story short:  use I-20 and I-95 if you're in a hurry; use I-77 and I-85 if you want a change of scenery.

[Zzonkmiles]

Interesting perspectives. Can't say I disagree with anything you guys said.

I just drove back to DC and back to SC. I took 77/85/95 to get there and 95/20 to get back. Both routes are about the same length, but the fact that 85 has 6 lanes or 8 lanes (during its concurrency with 40) really helps with traffic flow. And the fact that it goes through more urban areas makes it much more interesting. With 95, especially in NC, the scenery almost never changed. There were no points of interest, no metro areas, no unique engineering features, nothing. And the road seems less well maintained too.

I think on my next trip, I'll try 77/81/66. I've only driven the short section of 81 that overlaps with 77, so 81 is really a foreign entity to me. I also know that 66 has ridiculous traffic, so I may make a really long detour by going 77/81/64/95. Since I'll be traveling by myself, this is not an issue. Heh. 

I never thought about taking US-29 though. I'm not much of a US route lover (because I don't like traffic lights), but I can be persuaded, especially if the route is actually shorter.

[froggie]

I think on my next trip, I'll try 77/81/66. I've only driven the short section of 81 that overlaps with 77, so 81 is really a foreign entity to me. I also know that 66 has ridiculous traffic, so I may make a really long detour by going 77/81/64/95.

The "ridiculous traffic" on 66 is almost all east of US 29/Gainesville.  66 isn't bad west of there.  Overall, 95 is consistently worse than 66.

Also, 81 has a lot of trucks.  A LOT.  Not sure how you are with that, but many don't like it.

[1995hoo]

In the (relative) short term, note there is also road construction on I-66 between Gainesville and Haymarket due to a widening project. The construction is in its early stages but is bound to pick up now that spring seems to be arriving.

Southbound I-95 through North Carolina is a lot less interesting since South of the Border took down the un-PC billboards written in "Spanglish" containing all sorts of Mexican jokes.

[Mapmikey]

US 29 from Greensboro to north of Danville has zero stoplights; a handful of lights up to US 460; 1 stoplight between US 460 and I-64.

US 29 north of I-64 is either full of stoplights (through Charlottesville to US 33; Warrenton to I-66) or very busy.

But if you are willing to use I-64 east to Richmond already or cut across horse country to the Fredericksburg area, US 29 is more pleasant to drive than I-81 and has speed limits over 55 in many locations.

It cannot be overstated how much truck traffic there is on I-81.

Mapmikey

[DeaconG]

In the (relative) short term, note there is also road construction on I-66 between Gainesville and Haymarket due to a widening project. The construction is in its early stages but is bound to pick up now that spring seems to be arriving.

Southbound I-95 through North Carolina is a lot less interesting since South of the Border took down the un-PC billboards written in "Spanglish" containing all sorts of Mexican jokes.

Yes, the first time I saw 'Meth Pedro' I went "WHOA, dude...are you wired or something?" And it didn't get better the closer I got there...

[1995hoo]

US 29 from Greensboro to north of Danville has zero stoplights; a handful of lights up to US 460; 1 stoplight between US 460 and I-64.

US 29 north of I-64 is either full of stoplights (through Charlottesville to US 33; Warrenton to I-66) or very busy.

But if you are willing to use I-64 east to Richmond already or cut across horse country to the Fredericksburg area ....

This sort of thing is one reason why I suggested US-360 as a possible option up to Richmond. Admittedly it's been several years since I've been on that road, but I remember the portion from Danville up to Burkeville as being extremely rural and moving along quite nicely (brief slow segment in South Boston, but nothing major). I'm sure the area southwest of Richmond is more developed than it used to be, but then you also have the Route 288 bypass that didn't exist when I visited that area more frequently. Nowadays you can use 288 up to I-64 and then onto I-295.

[froggie]

US 360 is the only non-freeway that the General Assembly allows VDOT to post at 65 MPH.  Most of the stretch from Clover to at least Keysville (if not farther to Burkeville) is posted as such.

[1995hoo]

US 360 is the only non-freeway that the General Assembly allows VDOT to post at 65 MPH.  Most of the stretch from Clover to at least Keysville (if not farther to Burkeville) is posted as such.

Now that's interesting. I'll take your word for it since I have not been on there since that was posted. The speed limit statute (46.2-870) doesn't appear to say anything about 65 on there. Do you know when something else was enacted granting an exception for that segment and where it was codified?

http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?000+cod+46.2-870

[froggie]

After some further research, I may have erred.  US 360 was the first non-freeway route that the General Assembly allowed VDOT to post more than 55...that was codified in 2004.  But I erred in thinking it was 65...it's actually 60.  What I recall from the time was that 65 was proposed, but 60 is what passed the GA.

[1995hoo]

Thanks. Too bad, I wish it were 65 because it'd be reason for optimism that they might then extend it to other roads (similar to how they allowed 70 on just I-85 and then expanded that).

Either way (in an attempt to keep things on-topic!), 29/360 is still a good route from Greensboro up to Richmond. Can't necessarily go as fast as on I-85, but the utter lack of traffic (and traffic lights) for much of the route makes for a relaxing drive, which to me is often a reason to use a particular route just for a break.

[froggie]

SCDOT has begun a study of the I-20/I-26/I-126 "Carolina Crossroads" area near Columbia, SC.  They have a project website up at:

http://www.scdotcarolinacrossroads.com/

A member of the Freewayjim Facebook page went to a recent public meeting and posted some comments, including a desire to connect 126 to 277 and build a spur towards downtown from the 26/77 vicinity.

Some of my own comments:

- The project website is appalling. Especially the lack of maps/data/info.  It's like all flash and no bling.  Even if they're early in the project process, they could still show the maps they had at the public meeting or an overall study map.

- The 20/26 interchange could indeed stand to be improved. One thing to keep in mind, though, is that the more extravagant the interchange design, the more right-of-way is required, and the more expensive it'll be. At first blush, I think a design with two opposing flyovers, and keeping two loops, should work.

- Complicating the 20/26 interchange is the proximity to interchanges on both 20 and 26 at Bush River Rd, ESPECIALLY on 26. This'll require either C/D roads (more money and probably some ROW), or closing/realigning some ramps to/from Bush River Rd. I'd look at eliminating the north ramps at 26, directing that traffic over to 20.

- I don't see connecting 126 to 277 as being necessary. Nevermind that it would require going through either residential areas or a cemetery in order to make such a connection.

- On a similar vein, getting a spur up into the city from 26/77 is probably not going to happen because there's no clear way to get such a spur towards downtown without taking out a lot of right-of-way. The city's pretty built up on that side of the core, plus there are two large mining quarries and the river in the way.

- If the goal is to improve access into downtown from the south (i.e. 26/77), you'd be better off improving access from 26 to Klapman Blvd, but even that would require taking out commercial property and parking lots along a 0.6mi stretch of US 1/Augusta Rd.

[Mapmikey]

without looking at any of the project plans, it looks to me that if you could connect I-126 to I-20 along the river you could eliminate some of the movements at the 20-26 interchange and free up some room for improving that interchange...

Mapmikey