US Dept of Transportation Awards Study Grant to GDOT, SCDOT for I-85 Corridor

The South Carolina and Georgia Departments of Transportation have been awarded a grant from the US Department of Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration for a planning and environmental linkage study of approximately 2.5 miles on the I-85 corridor from Georgia into South Carolina.

The study will evaluate how best to replace or rehabilitate a bundle of six rural bridges in South Carolina that are in poor or fair condition.

But as we’ve been telling you, one of those bridges is the State Line Bridge over Lake Hartwell that links Georgia to South Carolina.

The South Carolina Department of Transportation will receive nearly $1.7 million for a Planning and Environmental Linkages study for a project to improve the safety, reliability, and efficiency of this critical corridor.

According to the US Department of Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration, the I-85 PEL study will also examine two interchanges, potential lane widening, additional truck parking, and a shared-use path.

Safety improvements include increased shoulder widths, adding emergency service pull-off areas, upgrading bridge railings, and correcting deficient geometric curves and alignments along the project corridor.

The Georgia DOT has been working for some years on a three-phase project to widen I-85 from north Metro Atlanta to the South Carolina state line which includes the State Line Bridge as well as several bridge overpasses.

Total cost of the state line bridge replacement projects in South Carolina is estimated to be $2.1 million.

Planning grants under the Bridge Investment Program are available for projects in the early phases of project development where eligible activities include planning, feasibility analysis, and revenue forecasting.

By providing planning grants in addition to construction grants, the U.S. DOT supports the development stage of a project that could then be eligible for a future construction grant through a range of competitive grant programs.

WLHR News has again contacted G-DOT to get more information on their role in the study and renovation of the state line bridge and we are waiting to hear back from them since GDOT is included in the PEL grant award.

For more information on the Bridge Investment Program, including the planning grants and Large Bridge Project grants please visit https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/bridge/bip/.