South Carolina is receiving more than $50 million in federal funding for six bridge projects, part of the $300 million the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) is investing in bridge projects in eight states and the District of Columbia.
“We’re helping replace six rural bridges South Carolinians rely on daily to get to their agricultural products to market and transport goods across the region and beyond. The improved bridges will reduce detours and improve safety for these communities,” Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg said in an April 13 tweet.
The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law’s Bridge Investment Program grants will fund the "repair, rehabilitation, and/or replacement" of nine bridges total, including the six in South Carolina, the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) reports in an April 13 news release.
The $300 million investment "comes on top of billions of dollars in other bridge and highway funding already flowing to every U.S. state and territory" to help communities improve or replace tens of thousand of bridges across the country "and restoring connections that are vital to commuters, emergency responders, truck drivers, public transit riders, and more," the news release states.
In South Carolina, the replacement of the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge and the Yadkin River Bridge on I-85 will improve safety for commuters and facilitate the transportation of goods and services throughout the state. The infrastructure improvements will support the safety of South Carolina's residents, and contribute to the economic growth of the state by creating new jobs and opportunities for businesses, according to the release.
The South Carolina Department of Transportation will use the state's $51.2 million in federal funding to replace six rural bridges that range from 68 to 101 years old, according to the release. These bridges are critical to local communities, providing essential transportation routes for thousands of residents who rely on them to travel to work, school, and transport goods across the state and region, the DOT reports. An estimated 13,000 vehicles cross these bridges every day, according to the DOT.
The replacement of these aging bridges will ensure the safety of commuters and avoid long detours that would result in increased costs if the bridges were closed to traffic, according to the release. Failure to invest in these bridges would cause significant inconvenience to residents and businesses alike, resulting in long delays and economic losses.
“Bridges tie together communities across our country – large and small,” Federal Highway Administrator Shailen Bhatt said in the news release.
“Over the next five years," Bhatt said, "the Bridge Investment Program will help repair, replace, and rehabilitate structures that allow working people to get to their jobs, families to get their kids to school, and truck drivers to get goods to store shelves. That is an investment in our country’s economic strength and in the safety and long-term growth of the communities nearby.”
