Existed: 1951 – present Constructed 1951 | Length 198.6 km | |
South end: US 17 / US 21 near Pocotaligo North end: US 17 / US 701 in Georgetown | ||
U.S. Route 17 Alternate (US 17 Alt) is an alternate route of U.S. Route 17 in South Carolina that runs between Pocotaligo and Georgetown. It is 123.4 miles (198.6 km) long and has been four-laned in various segments since 1970.
Contents
Map of US-17 ALT, South Carolina, USA
Route description
US 17 Alt starts at the northern terminus of the US 17-21 overlap near Pocotaligo as a two-lane highway. It heads north along US 21 through Yemassee, where it passes over the CSX Charleston Subdivision and then an over SC 68. Due to the presence of a parallel railroad spur along the north side of SC 68, access to and from US ALT 17-21 is only available from bi-directional on-off ramps on the southwest and southeast corners of the bridge. The multiplex continues until US 21 branches off on its own to the northwest. From here it runs through Hendersonville, and then Walterboro, where it merges with SC 63, becomes the northern terminus of SC 303, and the southern terminus of US 15. From that point, US 17 Alt moves away from I-95, running along the southeast side of Lowcountry Regional Airport and moving further northeast. In Summerville, it intersects US 78, has an interchange with I-26, and intersects US 176. At Moncks Corner, it intersects US 52 and crosses the Dennis Bishop Bridge over the Cooper River. Aftet crossing the W.H. Andrews Memorial Bridge over the Santee River, it joins another multiplex with US 521 in Sampit, and both routes finally terminate at US 17, along with the southern terminus of US 701 in Georgetown.
History
US 17 Alt was established in 1951 as a renumbering of mainline US 17 from near Pocotaligo to Walterboro, SC 64 from Walterboro to Moncks Corner, SC 179 from Moncks Corner to Jamestown, and SC 528 north of Jamestown to Sampit. US 17 Alt was also overlapped with US 52 in Moncks Corner, SC 41 around Jamestown, and US 521 between Sampit and Georgetown.
The first section to be widened to four lanes was in 1970 from US 78 to I-26. This followed with four-lane sections in Georgetown (1974), its concurrency with US 52 in Moncks Corner (1975), and its concurrency with SC 64 in Walterboro (1979). Since the late 1990s, US 17 Alt has been widening slowly into four-lane from I-26 towards Moncks Corner.
A second US 17 Alt did exist in South Carolina from 1955 to 1994, from the Georgia state line to Limehouse. Today it is part of mainline US 17.