The first quarter of 2025 is coming to a close. There are some West Columbia projects, including traffic upgrades and residential development, that have been planned recently that are coming to fruition this year.

In August of 2023, it was announced by the SC Department of Transportation that a monitored and controlled traffic light would be installed at the intersection of Sunset Boulevard, or US 378, and Henbet Drive, with new turn lanes.

The traffic light at the intersection is now operational and a turn lane has been added on Henbet Drive. Henbet Drive is being repaved, too, in order to facilitate a more orderly traffic flow in the heavily traveled section.
The South Carolina Department of Transportation is making corridor improvements to Augusta Road (US 1) from Jarvis Klapman Boulevard (SC 12) to Wren Road, near Oak Grove in Lexington. The purpose of the project is to improve safety along that stretch of road. Construction began in October and spans more than two miles. It includes medians, crosswalks, signage, traffic lights, pavement markings, and U-turn accommodations.

“The improvements on Augusta Road will absolutely make that drive safer along one of our busiest corridors,” said West Columbia Mayor Tem Miles.
 The medians included in the project will be enhanced by the West Columbia Beautification Foundation (WCBF.) Kathy Whetzel is the president of the WCFB.

“The Augusta Road corridor is a highly visible part of West Columbia,” Kathy said. “The Beautification Foundation is working on a plan to plant vegetation in the medians as a part of the SCDOT’s improvements to Augusta Road. It is one of our most-extensive undertakings since the Beautification foundation was established.”

Kathy said the medians will be filled with colorful trees, shrubs, and flowers. The plantings will be supported by an irrigation system that the WCFD is sponsoring.

“We plan to use hearty, drought-tolerant vegetation that is native to our area,” Kathy said. “We want it to be very appealing to the eye and have a huge impact.” 

At a C-CW Chamber breakfast in September of 2023, West Columbia Mayor Tem Miles spoke about a high-profile change coming to West Columbia in 2025. Meeting Street, from State Street to 9th Street. is going to be reduced from four lanes to two lanes. It will allow for more parking spaces on Meeting Street and an increase in pedestrian and retail traffic.

“SCDOT expects to have the right of way process completed this Summer. The project is expected to be put out for bid in November,” said Hannah Robinson of the SC Department of Transportation. “After the bidding process, the contractor will be given a construction start date.”

In December of 2022 it was announced that 312 luxury apartments would be built at a site adjacent to Henbet Drive. In April of 2024 Langley Point Apartments opened and began leasing the first of the completed 1, 2, and 3-bedroom units. Since opening,construction has been completed for the whole apartment complex.  Langley Pointe was made possible in part due to the use of the City of West Columbia’s Redevelopment Floating Zone District.

A mile from Langley Point, the University of South Carolina College of Nursing facility, across from Lexington Medical Center, was completed in June of 2024. Students started taking classes at the West Columbia site in the Fall Semester that began in Aug. 20, 2024.

It was first announced in October of 2021 that Pinecrest, a community of almost 200 single-family residential units would be built off of Methodist Park Road in West Columbia. The site stretches from the Pineview Baseball Complex to land behind the Carolina Pottery Plaza on Augusta Road. More than 40 of those homes have been constructed and most of the completed homes are occupied, as more homes are being built in the development.