By Dan McCue
Staff Writer

COLUMBIA -- The S.C. Department of Transportation has identified four design alternatives for a proposed full interchange at the intersection of Internstate-95 and U.S. Highway 301 in Orangeburg that could cost between $37.2 million and $56.8 million.

In a letter sent Jan. 24 to U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., state Transportation Secretary H.B. “Buck” Limehouse Jr. said that with any of the options under consideration, it is estimated that $2 million will be needed in the first year of the project to start preliminary design work.

Alternatives include a diamond interchange, a partial cloverleaf and two additional partial cloverleaf designs that include flyovers in two different configurations.

Depending on the start date of the actual work and the design chosen, the estimated amount of money needed for following years are roughly $4 million, $13 million, $13 million and $6 million, respectively, Limehouse said.

The price of each of the four alternatives includes a short extension of U.S. Highway 301 near Santee. 

Pete Poore, director of communications at S.C. DOT characterized the letter as part of an ongoing dialogue between Limehouse and Clyburn about the proposed project. He emphasized that no start date has been set for the reconfiguration of the interchange.

But hearing of a cost estimate for the first phase of the interchange project elicited a positive response from Orangeburg County’s top economic development official.

Gregg Robinson, executive director of the Orangeburg County Development Commission, said the need for a reconfigured intersection is growing fast. The town of Santee just broke ground on a new convention center for the region, and Jafza International’s development of a 1,300 site near the interchange means the Dubai-based logistics powerhouse will need to be able to move cargo and construction crews through the area.

Thankfully, Robinson said, the description of annual expenditures on the project is well within the range of the money that’s already been dedicated to the project.

“We already have $2 million from Orangeburg County, $3 million from the Lower Savannah Council of Governments and $4 million from Clyburn,” he said. “And if you combine that with reoccurring funds and the bonding capabilities available to the county, as well as the alternative revenue stream we can bring in due to Jafza’s influences, this in imminently doable.”