Big results expected from new interchange

“Today’s event is the aftermath of a whole lot of days in the trenches,” Middleton said. “When you are grinding it out, it does not feel very good, but when you are able to stand at the podium today and see success, you want to go back home and say what are we going to do next?”

The newly revamped Interstate 95-U.S. Highway 301 interchange opened to traffic in February. Officials gathered Monday to cut the ribbon on the U.S. 301 extension to Old Number Six Highway, the final piece of the project.

Officials say the $45 million interchange project will help draw development to the Global Logistics Triangle, which is the name Orangeburg County uses to market the area bordered by I-26, I-95 and U.S. 301.

The interchange and connector road are expected to handle increased traffic volumes from commercial and industrial development.

Middleton said the county is poised for great things and there are great things in the pipeline.

A person at a “very high level” has informed Middleton that “you’ve got some things coming that you will be very proud of and that it will be almost like a BMW in your area.

“The world is coming. We will be ready.”

Sixth District Congressman James Clyburn described the exchange as part of a larger effort to improve the area for development.

When he first entered Congress in 1993, Clyburn sat down with the chair of the S.C. Department of Commerce and discussed the area bordered by U.S. 301, I-95 and I-26, he said.

“He said to me there are significant infrastructure issues that must be addressed successfully if you want to get things done,” Clyburn said.

Clyburn said he sat down with Johnnie Wright, who is now chairman of Orangeburg County Council, and tried to find out how they could bring infrastructure to the area.

The Lake Marion Regional Water Agency was born.

The agency provides more than 8 million gallons of treated water per day to Orangeburg, Calhoun and Dorchester counties, as well as the town of Santee. The LMRWA is a collaborative effort among the Army Corps of Engineers, Santee Cooper, local governments and area businesses.

Clyburn said the community and its leaders had a vision and “stuck with it.” He said the Lake Marion Regional Water Agency gave birth to the Volvo plant that is being developed in Berkeley County.

The state was within days of losing Volvo to Georgia, but then officials began to look around for a water source, Clyburn said.

“If we had given up on the Lake Marion water system, if we had walked away when others did, we would not be on the eve of celebrating one of the biggest economic development industries to come into this area in decades,” he said.

Clyburn said as long as individuals here have the guts, the I-95 interchange can experience growth like the Interstate 85 interchange in the Upstate.

OCDC Executive Director Gregg Robinson said Monday’s ribbon-cutting marks a new day in Orangeburg County and is the development of a vision from long ago.

“We stand here today ready now to recruit those companies and create those jobs in an area that desperately needs it in a state that is on the move,” Robinson said.

Orangeburg County Councilman Johnny Ravenell said teamwork lead to Monday’s success.

“If we were not together, this project would not have happened. When you look at Orangeburg County, if we stay together to do everything, we can to be prosperous,” he said.

Ravenell thanked voters for approving the 1 percent capital project sales tax, which helps fund infrastructure and recreational projects.

Preliminary work started at the interchange in August 2013 and a formal groundbreaking ceremony was held in October 2014.

The project was scheduled to be complete by Oct. 18, 2015, but officials said that month’s flooding delayed the project. Last year’s Hurricane Matthew delayed the project as well.

Because the project was done in a design-build format, the contractor has been responsible for any delays or added costs.

The interchange upgrade was funded by the Lower Savannah Council of Governments, $17.2 million; a federal Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery Grant, $12.1 million; federal earmarks, $11.2 million, and $500,000 in local funding from the Orangeburg County Transportation Committee.

Jafza South Carolina donated about 43 acres of its land to help facilitate the construction of the interchange.

The project was constructed by McCarthy Construction and designed by Civil Engineering Consulting Services out of Columbia.