Will it run late? How bad will traffic get? Your I-77 bridge work questions answered.
Drivers can expect road work that won’t run overtime, will cause extensive traffic delays and likely will foreshadow more work to come.
On Tuesday afternoon Leland Colvin, deputy secretary for engineering with the South Carolina Department of Transportation, outlined a long list of expectations related to I-77 bridge work over the Catawba River.
Here’s what drivers need to know:
What’s the project?
The southbound lanes of the I-77 bridge over the Catawba River will be repaired. SCDOT will close the bridge at 9 p.m. Thursday. Crews will work 24 hours a day through 5 a.m. May 24.
On ramps to I-77 nearest and headed toward the bridge will be closed in Fort Mill and Rock Hill. Four typically northbound lanes on the bridge will carry both northbound and southbound traffic, two lanes in each direction.
U.S. 21 will be the primary detour route.
How do we know the project won’t take longer than expected?
The $12.7 million construction contract with United Infrastructure Group out of Chester County includes steep penalties for every hour the project runs late.
“We know how important this bridge is to the mobility across the state but particularly here in the York County region,” Colvin said. “So we’ve got $10,000 per hour if the contractor’s late, and we don’t expect that whatsoever.”
Construction staff will work in two 12-hour shifts daily, swapping at 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. Crews will stay in a local hotel for the project duration. The contractor required workers to have their COVID-19 vaccinations, to avoid any work impact from the virus.
Even rain shouldn’t cause delay, Colvin said.
“The demolition of the bridge, rain does not have that much impact versus say a paving project that we have,” he said. “So when you look at bridge projects, certainly no rain would deter us...Rain should really have little to no effect.”
Though he’s confident the work will get done on time, Colvin said there isn’t any margin worked into the schedule.
“There’s no buffer,” he said.
What about the northbound side?
Initial plans from SCDOT were to repair both the northound and southbound lanes. The high price and even more extensive traffic impact led the agency to split up the work. But repairs on the northbound lanes are needed, too.
“We have seen deterioration in that direction as well, and we expect we’re going to have to address that sometime in the future but it’s not going to be part of this project,” Colvin said.
In a spot there are five lanes heading northbound, which could make that work a little more involved even than what’s planned now on the southbound lanes. SCDOT doesn’t have an estimate for when northbound work may follow.
“I just don’t have a specific timeframe right now,” Colvin said.
The bridge was built in 1973 and repaired in 2000. There have been numerous small repairs. It carries about 121,000 vehicles per day each way. The deck and riding surface replacement on the southbound side should last for several decades.
“We expect to get another 30 to 40 years out of this significant improvement to the bridge,” Colvin said.
How do I get around the traffic?
Partners from municipalities to law enforement — most every public agency in greater Fort Mill and Rock Hill — is partnering with SCDOT on the work.
“Those are a lot of partners and it’s going to take a lot of folks working together to kind of work through the impacts of this project,” Colvin said.
Still, traffic delays will be tremendous. There are 11 weekdays within the closure. Colvin said he expects the worst traffic 6-9 a.m., then again 4-7 p.m. daily.
“There is going to be significant traffic impacts,” he said. “There is going to be congestion. There’s no question whatsoever.”
U.S. 21 is the main detour.
“There’s not a whole lot of alternatives,” Colvin said. “You’ve got I-77. You’ve got Cherry Road. Then you may have to move up to the Lake Wylie area and go over the bridge up there, and then maybe back south near Bowater. So those really are the only relief valves.”
Message boards on the interstate will detail expected travel times. The state also has a 511 system for alerts and real time data on road conditions, including traffic cameras.
Part of traffic relief will depend on the public making schedule or travel changes.
“We certainly are hoping that the public will take note of that, try to adjust their hours where they can, avoid this area if at all possible.”
How fast will traffic move?
Several years ago the state legislature passed new rules on speed limits in work zones. The speed limit for this project will be reduced to 45 mph.
There will be five law enforcement officers on patrol in the area throughout the construction. The state motorist assistance program will be extended to cover peak morning and afternoon rush hours. There also will be a 24-hour standby wrecker service to help keep traffic moving in the event of a wreck.
SCDOT will send out daily media releases with construction progress updates.
What else will be done to help traffic?
A regional traffic management center is now set up at the state welcome center just south of the North Carolina line, in Fort Mill. Three large screens show live SCDOT traffic cameras. The center can communicate with state and local law enforcement, and send remote communications to traffic signals along Celanese, Cherry and Sutton roads.
The traffic center can adjust or change signal durations during peak traffic to keep it moving in an optimal way.
“We’ll be monitoring traffic real time here out of the regional traffic management center with our district staff, and we’ll be revising signal timings and monitoring that congestion in real time,” Colvin said.
This story was originally published May 4, 2021 at 4:24 PM.
