SCDOT's Nov. 10 letting: 26 calls, led by I-26 and I-95 corridor work and a wave of 2027 resurfacing

The South Carolina Department of Transportation will open bids on 26 calls at its Nov. 10, 2026 letting. Electronic bids will be opened publicly in Conference Room 331 at SCDOT headquarters, 955 Park St. in Columbia, according to the department's Notice to Contractors. Bid totals will be posted on SCDOT's website, Bid Express and the Construction Extranet right after opening.

The big jobs

• Call 250: I-26 corridor improvement from near Exit 136 to Exit 145 in Calhoun and Orangeburg counties, about 18 miles, with completion due Aug. 31, 2030.
• Call 260: I-95 safety improvements from mile marker 90 to 120 in Clarendon and Orangeburg counties, about 30 miles, due Nov. 30, 2027.
• Call 180: bridge repair on I-26 eastbound over Bowen Lake (South Pacolet River) in Spartanburg County.
• Call 230: District 4 interstate bridge preservation.

2027 pavement improvement program

Twelve calls are county pavement improvement contracts labeled 2027, covering:

• Clarendon, Colleton, Darlington, Florence, Greenville, Horry, Richland, Sumter and Union;
• combined Newberry/Saluda, Edgefield/Saluda and Cherokee/York contracts.

Bridges and safety

• replacement of the Ladys Island bridge fender system in Beaufort County (call 020);
• bridge repair on US 1 over the railroad in Chesterfield County (call 030);
• a bridge replacement on S-12 (Springdale Road) over the L&C railroad and a bridge repair on SC 200 over Camp Creek, both in Lancaster County;
• replacement of the SC 56 bridge over Duncan Creek in Laurens County;
• intersection improvements in Anderson and Florence;
• a road-safety project on US 29 in Greenville County;
• sidewalks in Greenwood;
• road departure mitigation on S-278 (Calks Ferry Road) in Lexington County.

Rules that trip bidders

• Only contractors holding an SCDOT prequalification certificate may bid.
• Bid bonds are 5% of the approximate bid on Form 674, submitted electronically. No other guaranty is accepted.
• Some calls with utility relocation require a sub from a project-specific prequalified utility list. Requests to be added were due seven days before the letting.

See our SCDOT bidding guide and the bids table.

Funding and timelines

The notice lists funding for each call. Thirteen are federal, eleven are state-funded, one (the Cherokee/York pavement contract) is funded through a county transportation committee, and one (the Ladys Island fender job) is listed as "other." Every call shows a 0.00% DBE goal. Completion dates run from June 30, 2027, for District 4 interstate bridge preservation to Aug. 31, 2030, for the I-26 corridor.

The twelve 2027 pavement improvement contracts cover about 173 miles combined, from 8.08 miles in Union County to 23.72 miles in Darlington. Some go well beyond a mill-and-fill. The Clarendon contract (call 040), for example, lists 117,550 square yards of 10-inch cement-modified recycled base, 4,115 tons of portland cement and full-depth patching.

Three calls with a utility-sub rule

Calls 010 (Anderson County intersection), 130 (Lancaster County bridge replacement) and 250 (I-26) include utility relocation work under Section 105. On those calls, bidders must use a contractor from the project's prequalified utility contractor list, or the bid is nonresponsive. The apparent low bidder must email utility worksheets and its utility subs' names to SCDOT within three business days after the letting.

Where to get the documents

Proposals went up on Bid Express on Oct. 10. Plans, proposals, announcements, bids as received and CPM schedule templates are on SCDOT's free Construction Extranet, which also hosts the contractor discussion board. Some projects require a minimum quarterly Contractor Performance Score, noted in the advertisement. Contractors can check their score with SCDOT Construction Data Support.

Hard copies and plan charges

Contractors don't have to buy plans to bid. Hard copies are printed on request through SCDOT Engineering Publications at headquarters: $15 for a proposal and $2 per plan sheet, with no refunds. The Voluntary Plan Holders List is on Bid Express, which is the quickest way for subs to see who is looking at each call.