Columbia Traffic Congestion, Road Construction, and Planning

[Nick2]

Literally every interstate highway in the Columbia metro qualifies metrics for widening based off of volume. They need to do something about it. Interstates take forever to widen and get funding for. Unless they want traffic to get horrendous for a couple of decades while they catch up, starting now is the way to go. Glad they got the new highway funding bill passed. It's a first step in the right direction at least.

And something that's a little off on a tangent though that people haven't considered, self driving cars. If they become the norm, at least on interstates, that would almost eliminate the need for widening of the roads. Just something to think about since we're talking 15-20 years out. 15-20 years ago, smart phones weren't a thing - a lot can happen in the tech world.

I think an elevated interstate cutting through part of downtown following existing roads wouldn't be terrible. Have 277 elevate along bull then turn onto elmwood, then down huger, then onto blossom, into cacye, and through to the airport, and maybe even on into Lexington. That would help alleviate some of the volume in the malfunction junction area. 

[growingup15]

8 hours ago, Nick2 said:

Literally every interstate highway in the Columbia metro qualifies metrics for widening based off of volume. They need to do something about it. Interstates take forever to widen and get funding for. Unless they want traffic to get horrendous for a couple of decades while they catch up, starting now is the way to go. Glad they got the new highway funding bill passed. It's a first step in the right direction at least.

And something that's a little off on a tangent though that people haven't considered, self driving cars. If they become the norm, at least on interstates, that would almost eliminate the need for widening of the roads. Just something to think about since we're talking 15-20 years out. 15-20 years ago, smart phones weren't a thing - a lot can happen in the tech world.

I think an elevated interstate cutting through part of downtown following existing roads wouldn't be terrible. Have 277 elevate along bull then turn onto elmwood, then down huger, then onto blossom, into cacye, and through to the airport, and maybe even on into Lexington. That would help alleviate some of the volume in the malfunction junction area. 

The idea i had for 277 was to follow the RR through the Elmwood neighborhood Connect I-126 and follow it all way down pass assembly to I-77 that would take a lot of the Traffic off Elmwood and Bull St during Rush hour.

[Spartan]

11 hours ago, Nick2 said:

Literally every interstate highway in the Columbia metro qualifies metrics for widening based off of volume. They need to do something about it. Interstates take forever to widen and get funding for. Unless they want traffic to get horrendous for a couple of decades while they catch up, starting now is the way to go. Glad they got the new highway funding bill passed. It's a first step in the right direction at least.

And something that's a little off on a tangent though that people haven't considered, self driving cars. If they become the norm, at least on interstates, that would almost eliminate the need for widening of the roads. Just something to think about since we're talking 15-20 years out. 15-20 years ago, smart phones weren't a thing - a lot can happen in the tech world.

I think an elevated interstate cutting through part of downtown following existing roads wouldn't be terrible. Have 277 elevate along bull then turn onto elmwood, then down huger, then onto blossom, into cacye, and through to the airport, and maybe even on into Lexington. That would help alleviate some of the volume in the malfunction junction area. 

It will be interesting to see how Haley's transportation bill that was recently passed will affect project selection accross South Carolina. I know that the MPO has been looking at a redesign of Malfunction Junction, and it's only a matter of time before other highways are addressed. As bad as traffic is, I think part of the problem is a lack of alternative streets. I-20, for example, is one of only three roads that cross the Broad River in the Columbia area. An additional bridge north of I-20 would be able to take a lot of pressure off of the interstate and probably reduce the need to widen it for decades.

 

[Nick2]

I actually live right near malfunction junction and a parallel to i26/broad river is much more necessary. I20 going across the river can get bad but broad river road past the busch river intersection is usually bumper to bumper all the way to st. andrews rd and of course the actual malfunction junction itself is a nightmare. I think a four lane road that splits from broad river rd right after it crosses the river and runs along the river paralleling would alleviate a lot of the issues there. That area is by far the worst congestion in the city from what I've experienced. The rest of the roads and interstates might need work but this is the only area that is absolutely terrible. It can take 30 mins/half mile sometimes. God forbid a wreck, which happens constantly.

A new broad river bridge somewhere probably isn't feasible as far as the budget is concerned but that is something that needs looking at further down the road as Columbia continues to expand.

3 hours ago, growingup15 said:

The idea i had for 277 was to follow the RR through the Elmwood neighborhood Connect I-126 and follow it all way down pass assembly to I-77 that would take a lot of the Traffic off Elmwood and Bull St during Rush hour.

This would definitely have helped a ton. The discussion of an urban loop is crazy and would destroy the feeling of downtown. And downtown is just starting to get a really nice vibe to it with the improvements in the vista and main street in recent years.

[Nick2]

14 minutes ago, Spartan said:

It will be interesting to see how Haley's transportation bill that was recently passed will affect project selection accross South Carolina.

If I remember correctly they (unfortunately) said that the bill is to fix and improve existing roads that desperately need it of course. Especially the bridges. And no funding would go towards new interstate construction. So while the i73/i74 corridor in NC will be completely finished in a few years, it has yet to even be started in SC. Myrtle Beach really needs that too.

[growingup15]

5 hours ago, Nick2 said:

I actually live right near malfunction junction and a parallel to i26/broad river is much more necessary. I20 going across the river can get bad but broad river road past the busch river intersection is usually bumper to bumper all the way to st. andrews rd and of course the actual malfunction junction itself is a nightmare. I think a four lane road that splits from broad river rd right after it crosses the river and runs along the river paralleling would alleviate a lot of the issues there. That area is by far the worst congestion in the city from what I've experienced. The rest of the roads and interstates might need work but this is the only area that is absolutely terrible. It can take 30 mins/half mile sometimes. God forbid a wreck, which happens constantly.

A new broad river bridge somewhere probably isn't feasible as far as the budget is concerned but that is something that needs looking at further down the road as Columbia continues to expand.

This would definitely have helped a ton. The discussion of an urban loop is crazy and would destroy the feeling of downtown. And downtown is just starting to get a really nice vibe to it with the improvements in the vista and main street in recent years.

if a highway or parkway is to be constructed to connect I20 with 126 i think running it along the river would be good. but I think it should run along side or elevated above The RR that runs along side Broad River

5 hours ago, Nick2 said:

If I remember correctly they (unfortunately) said that the bill is to fix and improve existing roads that desperately need it of course. Especially the bridges. And no funding would go towards new interstate construction. So while the i73/i74 corridor in NC will be completely finished in a few years, it has yet to even be started in SC. Myrtle Beach really needs that too.

Myrtle Beach is kinda sad that its a major city with no connecting Interstate. they need one bad

[growingup15]

Heres the Concept im talking about

 

[Nick2]

@growingup15 The issue with that concept is that it wouldn't alleviate the actual volume problem with the traffic very much. Perhaps adding a new road that follows broad river north of i20 to the west of the broad river and do that route on the map for an additional interstate. That would help with some connectivity issues but it doesn't make all that much sense to me.

[growingup15]

9 hours ago, Nick2 said:

@growingup15 The issue with that concept is that it wouldn't alleviate the actual volume problem with the traffic very much. Perhaps adding a new road that follows broad river north of i20 to the west of the broad river and do that route on the map for an additional interstate. That would help with some connectivity issues but it doesn't make all that much sense to me.

So you're saying this but even more North following the broad river to correct other major neighborhoods and locations in the area?

[Nick2]

@growingup15 yes basically. Where that map has the interstate ending doesn't have a ton of population. It's still suburban but the roads in that area handle the traffic pretty well. It's once you get west of the broad river that the issues occur. 

[growingup15]

On 7/14/2016 at 0:45 AM, Nick2 said:

@growingup15

They unveiled the Carolina cross road concept designs.  I went to the meetings and all i can say is wow

I'm excited

http://www.scdotcarolinacrossroads.com/alternatives/

Edited October 5, 2016 by growingup15

[carolinagarnet]

God I don't even want to know how much that video was to produce.

Edited October 5, 2016 by carolinagarnet

[Nick2]

I've got to say that some of these options are very difficult to understand just looking at the map designs. But I'm so glad this will happen sooner rather than later. 

I feel like simply adding lanes in many places and a few flyover exits in key areas would be enough but for some reason they want to redesign all interchanges.

[growingup15]

23 hours ago, Nick2 said:

I've got to say that some of these options are very difficult to understand just looking at the map designs. But I'm so glad this will happen sooner rather than later. 

I feel like simply adding lanes in many places and a few flyover exits in key areas would be enough but for some reason they want to redesign all interchanges.

Honestly it's in need of redesign bad and i wouldn't mind some HOV or HOT lanes.  Along with adding lanes.  They also brought up at the meeting the need for Mass Transit in Columbia also. 

 

A lot of people i talked to while i was there agreed. 

[Spartan]

The most exciting part about that is the potential addition of a new connection across the Broad river to northern Columbia. That in and of itself will pull a ton of traffic off of I-20 and I-26. If they do that, and if they can successfully reconfigure the interchanges, they probably won't need to add lanes. The interchange and exits are the choke points.

 

[Nick2]

By far the biggest issue in the area is the intersection of 20/26. I hope whoever decided to make such a high volume interchange a clover-style is fired. Everything else just adds to the issues with congestion but that junction is the true cause of the issues. Also bush river, broad river, and st andrews roads are all way over capacity in general.

[growingup15]

3 hours ago, Nick2 said:

By far the biggest issue in the area is the intersection of 20/26. I hope whoever decided to make such a high volume interchange a clover-style is fired. Everything else just adds to the issues with congestion but that junction is the true cause of the issues. Also bush river, broad river, and st andrews roads are all way over capacity in general.

One of engineers told me that Broad River and St Andrews would be widen to a 7 Lanes  (that's including the middle lane) 

[Nick2]

@growingup15 I live right in st andrews and I've thought about them widening it and it's just not viable with the way businesses are set up. There is a ton of pedestrian traffic down broad river (a ton by columbia standards and for 40 mph speed limit traffic) so the sidewalks need improving/widening already so they can't really just be scrapped. Many businesses abut the road or their only parking available is in front. That would help a ton but I don't think it's possible. It would be interesting to see what they recommend.

I think the best solution is to improve the i20/26 interchange and bush/st andrews interchanges with i26 and then adding another potential route. Like the possibility of having another road cross the river heading into northwest columbia. 

[growingup15]

16 hours ago, Nick2 said:

@growingup15 I live right in st andrews and I've thought about them widening it and it's just not viable with the way businesses are set up. There is a ton of pedestrian traffic down broad river (a ton by columbia standards and for 40 mph speed limit traffic) so the sidewalks need improving/widening already so they can't really just be scrapped. Many businesses abut the road or their only parking available is in front. That would help a ton but I don't think it's possible. It would be interesting to see what they recommend.

I think the best solution is to improve the i20/26 interchange and bush/st andrews interchanges with i26 and then adding another potential route. Like the possibility of having another road cross the river heading into northwest columbia. 

Yeah in one of those renderings they did show a possible Expressway from Piney Grove Rd. to Killian Rd.  That would move a lot of people off 20 26.

 

I really like the one of them moving Interstate 126 completely from Colonial Dr and running it along side the River into I-20

[Nick2]

@growingup15 I haven't had a chance to look at the actual options for that. How does that work for the moving of the interstate? Do they just remove the entirety of st andrews? lol

[growingup15]

On 10/7/2016 at 4:29 PM, Nick2 said:

@growingup15 I haven't had a chance to look at the actual options for that. How does that work for the moving of the interstate? Do they just remove the entirety of st andrews? lol

No. You have to check it out to understand.  There's a few renderings of 126 connector

[Nick2]

The direct connector option for  the I-20/126 East-West Connector would help alleviate the traffic issues a ton. That plus the turbine intersection would be enormous helps.

[Spartan]

Essentially, all of the options for dealing with 126 involve building a new alignment between the Colonial Life Blvd exit and I-20, roughly paralleling Bush River Rd and the Saluda River. The alternative options include a route south of the Saluda, and two north of the Saluda. In all scenarios you remove some or all 126 traffic from the 26/20 interchange which should make the traffic there less chaotic. 

 

[growingup15]

Looks like Bluff Rd is getting a well deserved Makeover. 

http://columbiabusinessreport.com/news/construction/70785/

 

[growingup15]

Not sure if anyone knows whats going on but k just got back from Charlotte and i noticed that I77 near killian has been shifted like they are about to add lanes. Like HOV or HOT lanes. Anyone knows whats going on there?