SCDOT gets $23.5M federal grant to help replace aging bridges

COLUMBIA — The federal government is giving South Carolina a hand in replacing its aging bridges, the state transportation agency announced Thursday.

Replacing old and deteriorating bridges has been among the state Department of Transportation’s top priorities since Secretary Justin Powell took the helm two years ago. The agency has asked for a total of $1 billion spread out over five years in annual budget requests to replace the roughly 2,800 bridges nearing or past their intended lifespan.

A $23.5 million federal grant will make a dent in the cost of replacing 18 bridges across nine counties. Those include bridges between 50 and 100 years old that are in poor condition, the agency said in a news release.

The state will pay the remaining $93 million, according to the agency.

“SCDOT will move quickly to put these funds to use and get construction underway,” Powell said in a news release.

Over the past two years, state legislators have spent an additional $400 million to replace bridges. That’s on top of the annual $239 million the agency already spent on bridge maintenance.

Bridges near or past replacement age make up about a third of the state’s total inventory, which includes about 500 bridges over 90 years old, according to the agency.

This year, the Senate proposed spending nearly $190 million on bridges, while the House recommended close to $235 million. The state’s budget plan for the year is still under negotiation.

Bridge replacements took on a new urgency when a portion of Interstate 20 collapsed four days before Christmas in 2023. Gov. Henry McMaster pointed to the emergency construction as an example of why the DOT needed an infusion of $500 million for bridge work, which legislators ultimately didn’t do.

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“Our bridges remain a top priority in keeping our transportation system safe and reliable,” McMaster said in a news release Thursday. “Working together with our federal partners, we are continuing to make important investments that benefit South Carolinians.”

The transportation department expects to start accepting bids on construction this fall, with plans to begin designing and building the new bridges next year, according to the news release. The goal is to have new bridges in place before 2030.

The state’s bridges were among 127 projects nationwide selected for this year’s Better Utilizing Investments to Leverage Development, or BUILD, grants.

Cherokee County received about $1.3 million to improve 18 county-owned bridges, and Greenville Transit Authority got $4 million for improvements to the downtown hub for the bus system.