After the South Carolina Department of Transportation (SCDOT) received $200 million in the budget for bridge projects, 120 bridges are getting ready for repairs.
The extra funding was added to the state’s bridge program after the South Carolina General Assembly approved the money in their recent budget. This raised the total funding to $439 million, according to a news release from SCDOT.
An updated list of bridges was approved as part of an ongoing effort to fix the aging infrastructure in the state. According to officials, that is a top priority.
Out of South Carolina’s 8,400 bridge, approximately 30% of them are at least 60 years old. If SCDOT continues fixing and replacing bridges at the current rate of about 50 per year, there would still be 3,900 bridges that are 60 years or older according to Rob Perry, deputy secretary for engineering at SCDOT.
"We really need to more than double our bridge program to get ahead of this,” Perry said.
Half of the $200 million will go toward high-travel interstates and busy state highways, accounting for 20 of the added bridges. The other half will go toward less busy roads.
Since the department launched its 10-year plan in 2017, 260 bridges have been repaired or replaced. Construction continues on 114 more bridges with an additional 141 are in the design process. If all of those are finished by 2027, the agency will surpass its goal of fixing 500 bridges over that decade.
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Source: South Carolina Daily Gazette, UpstateToday.com
