I-95/US 301 is getting funding!!!!!!

PRESS RELEASE: Clyburn Announces $12 Million TIGER Grant for I-95/US 301 Interchange

Washington, DC - Sixth District Congressman and House Assistant Democratic Leader James E. Clyburn today announced Orangeburg County has received a $12.1 million U.S. Department of Transportation TIGER grant to create a southbound access ramp from U.S. Highway 301 to Interstate 95. The project will also extend Highway 301 from the interchange to the site of the Jafza intermodal distribution center.

This grant award added to $14.9 million previously secured by Congressman Clyburn, and $3 million and $1 million contributed by the State and Orangeburg County respectively, will be enough to complete this $26 million phase of the I-95/U.S. Highway 301 improvement project. This project is crucial to the full utilization of the Jafza center, which is located in the Global Logistics Triangle bounded by I-95, Highway 301, and S.C. Highway 6.

"Today's TIGER grant is an early Christmas present for the State of South Carolina," Congressman Clyburn said. "This project will make a Continental Tire or Boeing aircraft type project possible for Orangeburg County and the I-95 corridor."

According to Orangeburg County's TIGER grant application, Jafza "center operators expect the full distribution center to generate more than 6,000 jobs regionally in an area which is, and has been for decades, one of the nation's most economically disadvantaged."

The center, when completed, will receive offloaded cargo from the Charleston and Savannah ports by train and trucks for distribution to its final destination.

"Orangeburg County is thrilled with today's announcement of the TIGER grant to enhance the I-95/US 301 interchange that will create an opportunity for significant economic development along an economically challenged area on the I-95 corridor," said Bill Clark, Orangeburg County Administrator. "I would like to thank Congressman James Clyburn, along with Senator Lindsey Graham and the other members of our Congressional Delegation for their work in assisting our local officials in making improvements to the needed infrastructure that will lead to job creation for the citizens in our County."

"This is a project I have been working on for more than a decade, and it is exciting to see it come together at a time when our rural communities along the I-95 corridor have been hit so hard by the economic downturn," Congressman Clyburn continued. "Today is truly a great day in Orangeburg County."

In addition to the long-term impact on the local economy, the construction of the access ramp and 301 extension is estimated to create 404 jobs from 2012 to 2016. Most of those jobs are expected to be created in Orangeburg County, which ranks eighth among the nation's poorest counties with a population greater than 65,000 based on 2008 data.

From the Times and Democrat.