COLUMBIA – The S.C. Department of Public Safety wil join other state and local agencies from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesday to test lane reversal plans for all three major South Carolina coastal areas for hurricane season, which began Sunday.
No traffic lanes will actually be reversed during this exercise, which will focus on Interstate 26, U.S. 21, 278 and 501, and S.C. 544.
The exercise will simulate reversal operations on U.S. 278 and U.S. 21. The deployment of equipment and personnel will be made on these roads leading out of Hilton Head and Beaufort. SCDOT equipment will be stationed on U.S. 278 from Almenda to Hampton in Hampton County.
Law enforcement personnel and traffic control devices will be deployed on Interstate 26 from the intersection of I-526 and I-26 in Charleston to I-77 and I-26 in Columbia.
Traffic control equipment and personnel will be stationed on U.S. 501 beginning at S.C. 544 and ending at U.S. 378, as well as between S.C. 22 and the Marion By-Pass.
Aerial units from SLED, the Civil Air Patrol, the South Carolina National Guard, the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources and the South Carolina Forestry Commission will be flying assigned aerial surveillance routes.
As lanes will not really reverse during the exercise, the flow of traffic should not be disturbed. Intersections will not be blocked, and motorists will be allowed to move freely.
