Existed: 1979 – present North end: I-77 near Dentsville Constructed 1979 | South end: US 76 in Columbia Length 13 km | |
South Carolina Highway 277 (SC 277) is a state highway in the U.S. state of South Carolina that runs 8.1 miles (13.0 km) from I-77 (Exit 18) between Killian and Dentsville in Richland County to US 76 (Elmwood Avenue) in downtown Columbia. For most of its length, it is a controlled access freeway (motorway) conforming to interstate standards. The highway serves as a spur into Columbia from its northeastern suburbs and from intercity traffic traveling from I-77 and I-20. The freeway portion of SC 277 is called the Northeastern Freeway or I. DeQuincey Newman Freeway while the 0.7 (1.1 km) miles of surface street is part of Bull Street.
Contents
Map of SC-277, Columbia, SC, USA
Route description
The SC 277 designation was carried from I-77/Farrow Road to the Sunset Drive (SC 16) interchange, with all traffic using the Bull St. ramps to enter/exit the freeway. Southbound traffic has followed the surface street/boulevard (originally designated by SC DOT as "Road P-4001") to the U.S. 76/Bus. Spur I-126 (Elmwood Avenue) intersection to the present day. SC DOT replaced P-4001 with an official SC 277 designation southward on the approximately 1 mile of Bull Street from the freeway end to Elmwood Ave. in 1991. Though an additional mile or so of right-of-way had already been acquired by SC DOT from Bull St. to just past River Drive (U.S. 176), the project was placed on indefinite hold in 1979 due to funding and neighborhood opposition issues. In 1982, SC DOT canceled the project, finally returning (actually, "leasing" for $1) the unused right-of-way back to the city of Columbia in 2001. Interstate-standard mileposts were placed in 2005, though at no time was the route considered for incorporation into the existing Interstate Highway system as an "Interstate 277". SC 277 was also applied to another route from 1941-42 until 1948 between SC 215 and the current US 321 in northern Richland County. It is now S-40-38 (Camp Ground Road).
History
SC 277 was originally part of a plan to construct an urban-loop expressway through Columbia shortly following federal approval of extending I-77 to the city from Charlotte in 1969. The initial phase of the highway was logically conceived as an alternative to increasingly congested Farrow Road (SC 555). The highway split from Interstate 77 at what is now Exit 19, proceeding through downtown Columbia roughly parallel to Farrow Rd. and Huger Street, finally merging with Interstate 26 near the present-day terminus of I-77 in Cayce. New parallel spans over the Congaree River, as well as a direct connection to I-126 at an improved Huger St. interchange were part of the original plan. Construction began at I-20 in 1973, opening in stages from the planned Bull Street interchange northward to I-77 through the end of 1977.
Exit list
The entire route is in Richland County.