Federal money will be used to improve 50 intersections in Orangeburg County during the 2009 fiscal year.

The improvements will consist of low-cost engineering techniques such as new signs and pavement markings.

The following intersections are among those that will be improved:

* U.S. 21 and S.C. 33.

* U.S. 321 and S.C. 4.

* U.S. 21 and U.S. 301/John C. Calhoun Drive.

* U.S. 21 and U.S. 21 -- Business.

* U.S. 301 and S.C. 33.

* U.S. 15/Bass Road and U.S. 301.

* U.S. 176/Old State Road and U.S. 301.

* U.S. 301 and S.C. 70/Binnicker Bridge Road.

* U.S. 301 and S.C. 267.

* S.C. 45/Audubon Highway and S.C. 310.

* S.C. 4 and S.C. 400/Norway Road.

* S.C. 3/Capital Way and S.C. 389/Ninety Six Road.

One Calhoun County intersection will be improved, along with one in Bamberg County. The Calhoun County intersection is a secondary road intersection. The Bamberg County intersection is at U.S. 21 and S.C. 61.

The T&D Region improvements are among 2,200 intersection safety improvement projects approved by the state Department of Transportation Commission. The commission approved about $2.5 million for the projects.

The improvements are designed to help SCDOT reach its goal of reducing the statewide crash rate by 3 percent annually.

The intersections represent 1 percent of the 195,000 intersections in the state highway system. However, they also account for 67 percent of all intersection crashes in the state.

Transportation Secretary H.B. Limehouse Jr. commended commission members for their support of safety projects.

"We have committed to making our highways as safe as possible by using engineering strategies that can contribute to reducing crashes, injuries and deaths," Limehouse said. "We have limited dollars, but our engineers have devised low-cost plans that can stretch our funds and target the most dangerous areas on our roads."

You must be logged in to comment.