Interstate 126

File:I-126.jpg skyline]]

I-126 begins in northwestern Columbia at an interchange with parent route I-26 and US 76 along the Saluda River. The terminus is located near the Dutch Square shopping center and I-26's own interchange with I-20, nicknamed "Malfunction Junction", which includes a weaving ramp from I-126's westbound lanes to I-20.{{cite news |last=Feit |first=Noah |date=September 22, 2020 |title=$1.6 billion Malfunction Junction makeover plan gets OK, and projected start date |url=https://www.thestate.com/news/traffic/article245914475.html |work=The State |accessdate=January 22, 2022}} The eight-lane freeway travels southeast along the Saluda River and passes the Riverbanks Zoo at Greystone Boulevard. It then crosses over the Broad River on the Timmerman Bridge near the mouth of the Saluda River. I-126 enters Downtown Columbia and reaches its easternmost interchange with Huger Street, which carries US 21, US 176, and US 321. The freeway continues east for several blocks on Elmwood Avenue, which carries the highways that Huger Street did, and ends at Gadsden Street near the South Carolina Governor's Mansion.{{google maps |title=Interstate 126 |url=https://www.google.com/maps/dir/34.02758,-81.10116/34.011142,-81.045918/@34.021914,-81.1051071,14824m/am=t/data=!3m2!1e3!4b1!4m5!4m4!1m1!4e1!1m1!4e1?hl=en |accessdate=January 22, 2022}}{{Cite SCDOT map |year=2021 |inset=Columbia |access-date=January 22, 2022}}

I-126 is officially named the Lester Bates Freeway for former Columbia mayor Lester Bates.{{cite news |last=Beam |first=Adam |date=December 24, 2008 |title=City plans to name boulevard for MLK |pages=[https://www.newspapers.com/clip/93243632/city-plans-to-name-boulevard-for-mlk/ A1], [https://www.newspapers.com/clip/93243707/city-plans-to-name-boulevard-for-mlk/ A10] |work=The State |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/93243632/city-plans-to-name-boulevard-for-mlk/ |via=Newspapers.com |accessdate=January 22, 2022}} All of its exits are unnumbered. The entire length of the freeway is concurrent with US 76, which continues west on I-26 towards Georgia and east to North Carolina.

Construction started on I-126 in 1959, and it was completed in 1961 as a four-lane freeway spur of I-26. The last sections of both freeways opened on May 16, 1961, as part of National Highway Week.{{cite news |date=May 13, 1961 |title=New Interstate 26's Final Line Opens Tuesday; Public Invited |page=1A |work=The Columbia Record |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/94013649/new-interstate-26s-final-line-opens/ |via=Newspapers.com |accessdate=February 1, 2022}}{{cite news |date=May 17, 1961 |title=Ceremonies Officially Open Tri-Level Traffic Exchange |page=7A |work=The State |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/94013692/ceremonies-officially-open-tri-level/ |via=Newspapers.com |accessdate=February 1, 2022}} In the early 1980s, it was widened to six lanes from I-26 to Greystone Boulevard and eight lanes from there to Huger Street.{{cite news |date=December 7, 1984 |title=Agency severing link with jobs experiment |page=2C |work=The State |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/94013771/agency-severing-link-with-jobs/ |via=Newspapers.com |accessdate=February 1, 2022}} By the 1990s, a lane was added eastbound from Colonial Life Boulevard to Greystone Boulevard and westbound from Greystone Boulevard to a new I-20 exit just before its western terminus. The eastern terminus of I-126 has fluctuated between Huger Street and Gadsden Street.{{cite map |publisher= South Carolina Department of Transportation |url= http://digital.tcl.sc.edu/cdm/singleitem/collection/scrm/id/441/rec/1 |format= PDF |title= General Highway Map, York County, South Carolina |cartography= SCDOT |year= 1963 |access-date= May 19, 2013}}

I-126 was designated the Lester Bates Freeway in April 1986 in honor of former Columbia mayor Lester Bates, who served three terms in the 1960s.{{cite news |last=Corvini |first=Margaret |date=April 19, 1986 |title=Lane change |page=1B |work=The State |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/93243818/lane-change/ |via=Newspapers.com |accessdate=January 22, 2022}}

==Future==

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The South Carolina Department of Transportation (SCDOT), in cooperation with the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), is proposing improvements to the Interstate corridor of I-20/I-26/I-126, including the system interchanges at I-20/I-26 and I-26/I-126 in Lexington and Richland counties. These improvements are proposed to increase mobility and enhance traffic operations by reducing existing traffic congestion within the I-20/I-26/I-126 corridor, while accommodating future traffic needs. The corridor's approximately {{convert|14|mi|km}} of mainline Interstate include I-26 from exit 101 (Broad River Road/US 176) to east of the Saluda River, I-20 from the west of the Saluda River to west of the Broad River, and I-126 from I-26 to east of the interchange with Colonial Life Boulevard.{{Cite web|url=http://www.scdotcarolinacrossroads.com/phasing.html|title=Construction Phasing}}

All exits are unnumbered except the second exit on the eastbound lanes.

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|notes=Western terminus; western end of US 76 concurrency; I-20 exit 64; I-26 exit 108

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{{SCint|exit

|mile=0.801

|exit=108A

|road={{jct|state=SC|road|Colonial Life Boulevard|to2=y|road|Bush River Road}}

|notes=Exit number based on using I-26 exit numbering, only showed on eastbound; no exit number on westbound

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{{SCint|exit

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|road={{Jct|state=SC|US|21|US|176|US|321|dir1=south|dir2=east|dir3=south|name3=Huger Street}}

|notes=Western end of US 21/US 176/US 321 concurrency

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{{SCint|exit

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|notes=Eastern terminus; eastern end of US 21/US 176/US 321 and US 76 concurrencies

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{{Jctbtm|exit|keys=concur,incomplete}}

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{{unreferenced section|date=February 2024}}

{{Infobox road small

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|location=Columbia, South Carolina

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|length_ref={{google maps |url=https://www.google.com/maps/dir/34.0148672,-81.0342758/34.0103455,-81.0487619/@34.0128045,-81.0461446,16z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m2!4m1!3e0 |title=Overview map of I-126 Bus. (Columbia) |link=no |access-date=May 19, 2013 }}

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Interstate 126 Business (I-126 Bus) was a boulevard-grade business spur of I-126 along Elmwood Avenue between Huger Street and Bull Street in concurrence with US 21/US 76/US 176/US 321. The route was never marked on state, county, or city highway maps.{{cn|date=January 2021}} Signage proliferated along the westbound route in the late 1970s from Bull Street to Assembly Street. These signs were added with a major signage overhaul on Elmwood Avenue around 1978 when US 21/US 176/US 321 were moved from Assembly Street to Huger Street, SC 215 was removed from the route and SC 48 was extended up Assembly Street to Elmwood Avenue. However, by 2000, only one sign remained, and this was gone by the mid-2000s. At some point,{{When|date=July 2013}} I-126 absorbed part of the business spur from Huger Street to Gadsden Street. It is considered decommissioned as no current state or federal maps list it nor does any physical signage exist.

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• [https://www.angelfire.com/sc3/scroads/i126.html Mapmikey's South Carolina Highways Page: I-126]

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Category:Transportation in Columbia, South Carolina

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Category:Transportation in Richland County, South Carolina