First, let me set expectations….it could be 5 years or more before we see some/most/all of these improvements – but it’s good that the Central Midlands Council of Governments has put a plan in place based off the feedback from community and the help of our 2nd Congressional District DOT Commissioner Bill Dukes (who acquired the federal funding for the study). Don’t be alarmed by seeing “2050” on the slide above.
Earlier this week, local mayors, county councilman and DOT officials (as well as Richland and Lexington County officials) met with me, Senator Ronnie Cromer, and Rep. Joe White (Rep. Kilmartin was out of country). It was good seeing everyone again, even though just weeks ago many of them were at my regular Community Cookout.
I’m sharing the important takeaways (slides) for parts of Irmo and Chapin (from Kennerly Road to Chapin). Today, I received the following message:
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The CMCOG Board of Directors to action to accept the US 76/176 Corridor Feasibility Study. Please be advised that this action is only to accept the final report. Before any project recommendations are implemented, further discussions and coordination will need to occur.
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Again, this is just the beginning of the process. Funding is very important, as are the approvals required (some at the federal level). And, of course, the process does not go as quickly as you and I would like! To give you some perspective, widening one mile of road costs roughly $16,000,000. That means to widen from Chickfila to Old Hilton will cost roughly $90,000,000!
One very important thing that is under consideration (studies being done for efficiencies/etc) is A NEW ON RAMP TO THE HIGHWAY! Current options being explored are Mt. Vernon Church Road and Old Hilton Road. For perspective, that alone would cost approximately $150,000,000!
Your feedback helps make things like this happen! (Just not as quickly as we’d like). For those in Richland County we’ve been waiting MORE THAN A DECADE for Richland County to START breaking ground on the Broad River Road Widening Project. This week, I was told “February 14th” we would see ground being broken. I was also told basically the same thing that I shared with y’all last December! Still frustrating the county wouldn’t let DOT (the state agency I asked to intervene years ago) to take over the project. I honestly believe we would have seen ground broken long before now had the state taken over the project!
Look for continued improvements and come back to Nathan’s News often for more updates.
If you are not receiving my regular COMMUNITY UPDATE EMAIL, just let me know you want to be added to the distribution. Please email me at NathanBallentine@schouse.gov and I’ll make that happen!
** Speaking of feedback – be sure to check your mailbox in the coming weeks for my Legislative Survey. Unlike other politicians that just reach out during a campaign, I’m always looking for your help and having you as my “eyes and ears” in the community, is what helps me serve us all better!
What happened to the plan to install a traffic light at Hwy 78 and Johnson Marina Road? This is sorely needed to break up traffic flow from Hwy 6, Hwy 76, and I26 traffic from Rauch Meetz Road. At high traffic times, Hwy 76 has almost continuous traffic making it almost impossible to get onto Hwy 76 from side roads.
This is great news. I was always curious why a ramp to I-26 wasn’t considered at old Hilton. With so many new developments coming in at Chapin, I truly believe that would’ve solved this problem. I see a bottle neck of cars until we get to the Shell gas station in Ballentine where most cars turn left to get to the Peak entrance to I-26.