Planners hold Columbia Avenue widening update meeting in Chapin, plan has few surprises from last ye

Chapin, SC (Paul Kirby) A meeting that was held in Chapin a week ago revealed few surprises regarding the much-anticipated widening of Columbia Avenue (S-48). There was a similar meeting held at Our Lady of the Lake Catholic Church nearly a year ago (see http://ow.ly/uyD730i99x2 for that story). The meeting included representatives from Mead & Hunt, the company that the county has hired to design the project, Lexington County, who’s been given the go ahead to manage the project by the DOT,representatives from the SCDOT, the owner of that road, officials from the town of Chapin, and any citizen who wanted to attend.

Beside widening Columbia Avenue to just past the high school, the design has a bypass that would allow much of the traffic heading out Old Lexington and Amicks Ferry Roads to miss the congested older portion of the town which clogs with traffic during the commutes. That new bypass and connector that would begin just northwest of Chapin High School would funnel traffic off Columbia Avenue before it reached the heart of the town.

This new bypass would cross East Boundary Street, connect to Chapin Road at Weisz Street, near what has recently been a used car lot. At Chapin Road, the bypass’s traffic would proceed west on a new parkway around the GIS’s business property before merging with an improved Clark Street to connect with Old Lexington Highway at the original location of the Chapin United Methodist Church. That building is now the Christ Church and House of Prayer. The road would continue behind the Chapin Crossing property, home to Publix, and end at a new intersection with Amick’s Ferry Road. Amicks Ferry feeds into many of the Lake Murray neighborhoods including Timberlake Plantation.

A few things have changed since the 2017 meeting. First, the SCDOT has taken the new I-26 bridge on completely themselves. This means that the part that the county will manage would start somewhere near the Bojangles on Columbia Avenue. The bridge design is something to see. It’s referred to as a divergent-diamond interchange and is supposed to allow traffic exiting the interstate to flow more freely. It is part of a planned widening of I-26 that includes adding lanes from Broad River Road into Newberry County.

Next, the 2017 design would have bulldozed Smith Engineering, the small white house just west of SCE&G’s drive, and the huge old oak in that yard. The new revision saves Smith’s and moves the interchange a bit closer to the high school where SCE&G’s drive is now. This was done to appease Mr. Smith who spoke out against the project destroying his building and the tree with a long and storied history in 2017.

One other change on the table is a strip of grass a few feet wide between the curbing and the sidewalk where those run in the project. This would make the whole thing look nicer, but the state wants the town to agree to cut and maintain that strip if it’s installed. As with everything else, lawnmowers and their operators aren’t free so Chapin would need to consider those cost.

The plan really has changed little from the design that most experts preferred a year ago. The meeting last Thursday was just intended as an update for those interested, and really didn’t set any specific time frame for the projects start or completion.

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  Chapin Columbia Ave S-48

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  S 48 bridge