COLUMBIA, S.C. — Governor Henry McMaster is preparing to recommend more than $1 billion in new state funding to keep road and highway projects across South Carolina on schedule as inflation and labor costs continue to rise.
In a preview of his upcoming 2026 executive budget, McMaster said he will ask the General Assembly to appropriate an additional $1.1 billion in state funds to address escalating construction expenses that threaten to slow or delay major transportation improvements.
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Over the past four years, McMaster and state lawmakers have already approved $1.4 billion for new construction and upgrades to state-owned roads, bridges, highways and interstates. Today, nearly $7 billion worth of transportation projects are underway statewide, a significant increase from the $2.7 billion in active projects reported in 2017.
Drivers say the impact of long-term construction is being felt daily.
“It’s just been crazy with all the construction,” said Lisa Ferron, an Orangeburg resident who commutes along Interstate 26 for work. “The traffic is always steady and packed, and there are a ton of accidents.”
Ferron said ongoing work along I-26 has made commuting more difficult and dangerous.
“It’s just a very dangerous situation that I deal with on a daily basis,” she said.
State officials say inflation-driven increases in labor, equipment and material costs have significantly affected transportation projects both in South Carolina and nationwide.
“Over the last several years, South Carolina has made tremendous progress improving our roadways, with major projects underway in every corner of the state,” McMaster said. “Our population is skyrocketing, and inflation is driving up construction costs, creating potential delays. We can’t make more time, but we can use this new surplus money to keep road projects moving and on schedule.”
State Representative Gary Brewer, a member of the South Carolina Department of Transportation’s Modernization Ad-Hoc Committee, said rising costs are affecting every aspect of road construction.
“Every bit of construction that you will see for people building roads, whether from equipment to labor to any of your aggregates has gone up,” Brewer said.
The governor’s proposal follows a funding request from SCDOT Secretary Justin Powell, who warned that inflation could disrupt ongoing projects without additional financial support.
According to Powell, several major interstate projects have seen substantial cost increases since 2022. The widening of Interstate 26 between Charleston and Columbia has grown from $2.02 billion to $3.03 billion, a 50% increase. The Interstate 95 widening project from the Georgia border to Point South has risen from $977 million to $2.27 billion, a 132% increase. Columbia’s Carolina Crossroads project—often referred to as Malfunction Junction—has increased from $2.062 billion to $2.751 billion, a 33% jump.
Additional funding would also help SCDOT prepare future interstate widening projects, including improvements to I-85 in Anderson and Oconee counties and I-77 in York and Chester counties.
Inflation has also reduced the department’s purchasing power. In 2017, a single penny of the state gas tax could pave 114 miles of two-lane highway. By 2025, that same penny covers just 87 miles.
Since 2017, SCDOT has placed more than 10,000 miles of roadway—nearly one-quarter of South Carolina’s 41,000-mile highway system—under paving contracts and has replaced or rehabilitated more than 450 bridges. Major improvements have also been completed along Interstates 85, 20 and 26.
While drivers acknowledge the importance of infrastructure upgrades, many express frustration with how long projects take to finish.
“It just seems never-ending,” Ferron said. “Like, when’s it ever going to be done? It’s just frustrating that it seems like it’s never going to be finished.”
McMaster is expected to release his full executive budget proposal for the 2026–27 fiscal year in the coming days.
Originally reported by WLTX.
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