COLUMBIA, SC (WSPA)- It happens to the best of us. You leave your house in the morning to head to school or work and then all of a sudden you find yourself in a traffic jam.
Unfortunately, drivers across the state experience these same issues on a daily basis. Issues a group of senators will now have to address.
At 1 p.m. Thursday afternoon, the flow of traffic on I-26 West and I-26 East was heavy. It’s an occurrence for most interstates in South Carolina.
“When we’re talking about the I-95 corridor and I-26 and those kinds of things we have some real real challenges,” said Representative JA Moore, detailing what he has seen on the roads.
At just one traffic check point in Charleston County used by the SC Department of Transportation to analyze traffic, the number of average cars on the road daily has increased by 30,000 since 2015.
Representative Moore continued, “a trip from Goose Creek to downtown Charleston 15 years ago was a 15 minute drive, now it’s a 45 minute to an hour project.”
It’s an increase all roads in SC are experiencing that a group of South Carolina senators will now have to address.
The Senate Interstate Congestion Subcommittee was formed earlier this month to analyze traffic patterns and develop recommendations to ease the congestion.
Senator Greg Gregory sits on the subcommittee. He says exit and entry ramps along I-77 cause backup issues frequently.
“The fuel tax isn’t enough of an increase to widen or expand the interstates. We’re going to need to come up with other forms of funding to expand our interstates, widen them, it costs about $20 million a mile to widen an interstate, I-95 alone would cost billions.”
Each of the committee members represent a different area in the state where congestion is common.
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