
BLYTHEWOOD – As the buildings in the massive Scout project are going vertical on the west side of I-77, a giant bridge is being constructed over I-77 and Community Road, just north of Exit 24. The bridge, which will rise approximately 40 feet above the roadway, will accommodate a rail spur that will reach from US Hwy 21 near Boomer Road (just south of the Town of Blythewood), over I-77, to the Scout plant.
In addition, Hwy 21 will be realigned from just south of Boomer Road, to go around the Fairfield Electric Coop substation and connect back to another section of Hwy 21, just west of the Coop substation.
A new road will connect the realigned section of Hwy 21 to the Scout plant via a new I-77 interchange that will be located just north of the rail bridge over I-77.

The concrete and steel I-77 bridge, rail bed, realigned Hwy 21, as well as the new connector road are funded from a $200,000,000 pot of money provided by the SC Department of Commerce, according to Jae Mattox, Assistant Director of Alternative Delivery for SCDOT. Mattox is responsible for pre-construction efforts of SCDOT’s design build projects in the state.
As for the timeline of these projects, Mattox says the bridge for the rail overpass is approximately 50 percent complete.
“Earthwork is ongoing to bring the site up to the final elevation, and vertical construction of the bridge columns will begin in February,” Mattox told The Voice. “Besides building up the rail bed, we’re installing foundations for the bridge. The bridge itself is going to be very high, about 40 feet above the I-77 roadway. It’s much higher than other bridges you’ll see around here,” he said.

Mattox says the I-77 bridge should be substantially complete by December of this year (2025).
Once the bridge work is completed by SCDOT over I-77, Mattox says Norfolk Southern will begin constructing all aspects of the rail – including the track work – from Hwy 21, over the I-77 bridge to a rail yard at the Scout plant. He says the rail should be completed during spring 2026.
The realignment of Hwy 21 and the bridgework to take Hwy 21 over the rail is anticipated to begin in early 2026. The Hwy 21 bridge over the rail will be four lanes wide to allow future widening of the road (see map on page A1). A new I-77 interchange, the connector road and a slight realignment of Farrow Road should all be completed sometime around November 2026, according to Mattox.
“The materials to build the rail will have to be brought in by rail. The strands of steel rails are each a quarter of a mile long,” Mattox says. “You can’t bring them in on a truck. They have to be transported by rail. So, the rails are actually built as the materials are delivered by train.”

Work to both realign Hwy 21 and build the rail track will start at Hwy 21 just south of Blythewood and continue in the direction of the Scout property.
“It was first planned to have an at-grade crossing for the train to travel over the realigned Hwy 21, but it soon became apparent to DOT engineers that would be a safety issue,” Mattox says, “with the increasing traffic on Hwy 21. The best course of action, and the one we chose, is to build a bridge for Hwy 21 to go over the railroad.”
The new I-77 interchange will be built just north of where the rail bridge crosses I-77 (between Blythewood Exits 24 and 27.)
