COLUMBIA, S.C. — A proposal to add lanes to a new Back River bridge that will be built starting later this year is being met with disbelief in some circles. The bridge will connect Savannah to Jasper County, S.C.
South Carolina Department of Transportation Commissioner Craig Forrest, among others, has questioned the idea.
But the state’s Department of Transportation has offered some explanation, if not reassurance.
“This would not be an uncommon approach,” said Mark Lester, the agency’s director of planning and environmental, in an email.
“It depends on the location, particularly the geometry and the traffic volumes,” he said. “As we get further along in the design process, we will examine every option to include both widening the bridge and constructing a parallel structure.”
There’s no funding for it, and South Carolina has a projected $29 billion shortfall over the next 20 years just to maintain and upgrade current roads and bridges.
Still, if money can be found for the parallel bridge structure, officials say the approach could come with advantages.
“Depending on the construction staging, a parallel structure could be easier to construct and may result in fewer impacts to the motoring public,” said Lester. He said putting in additional lanes is being studied as part of the federally required environmental process.
The purpose of adding lanes is to prevent a bottleneck on South Carolina’s side.
Jasper County legislators and local officials have objected to the current Back River Bridge replacement plan, which is to reconstruct the span with only two lanes.
Area leaders have warned that a future four-lane U.S. 17 feeding into the new bridge will be congested when the roadway tapers into a narrower, two-lane bridge.
In April a Georgia Department of Transportation official made it clear that after South Carolina widens U.S. 17 from two lanes to four, it will be up to the Palmetto State to build the second, two-lane bridge across the Back River.
Last week Forrest, a Sun City resident, expressed his displeasure with the plan and said he couldn’t see South Carolina finding money for it. When Jasper County administrator Andrew Fulghum informed him of the “parallel bridge structure” plan, he was taken aback.
“I said, ‘what?’ I’ve never heard of such a thing in my life,’” said Forrest, who worked in transportation planning for more than 27 years in the Maryland Department of Transportation and then for Baltimore County.
“There is no commitment at this point in time other than an environmental document that, at some time in the future, there may be consideration of a parallel bridge,” said Forrest.
“I’m not going to be comfortable until I see what (SCDOT) staff comes up with.”
Some fear the problems will arise in the time span between the completion of U.S. 17 widening and the completion of the new parallel bridge structure.
On April 5, Georgia awarded a $14.4 million construction contract to build the new bridge. When it’s completed, the original 59-year-old bridge will be demolished. Federal funds will pay for 80 percent of the new bridge, with Georgia and South Carolina splitting the rest, 90-10.