Beaufort Traffic & Road Conditions

Roads & Traffic Patterns

How Beaufort County Moves: Highways, Commutes & Freight

A driver's-eye reference to the interstates, US highways, commute corridors, and freight infrastructure that define how Beaufort gets where it's going.

Major Highways in Beaufort County

Beaufort County sits at the convergence of I-26, I-20, I-77, US-1 / Two Notch Road, and US-76/378 / Garners Ferry Road. Together these routes carry essentially every commercial truck, commuter car, and out-of-state visitor that touches Beaufort in a given day — which is why a single closure or rolling backup on any one of them ripples across the rest within minutes.

• I-26
  East-west spine; connects Columbia to Newberry/I-77 interchange (NW) and I-95/Orangeburg/Charleston (SE); primary freight and passenger corridor for the Midlands.
• I-20
  Primary east-west corridor connecting Beaufort to Savannah/I-95 (W) and Charleston (E) via US-17; primary commuter and industrial route for the Lowcountry coastal corridor.
• I-77
  North-south corridor; connects Columbia to Charlotte NC (N) and I-26 interchange (S); Scout Motors Drive interchange under construction 2025; primary Charlotte commuter and logistics route.
• US-1 / Two Notch Road
  Northeast corridor from downtown to Fort Jackson, I-20, and northeast Richland County; heavy commercial strip; primary access to Fort Jackson main gate area.
• US-76/378 / Garners Ferry Road
  Southeast corridor connecting downtown Columbia to Dorn VA Medical Center, Shaw Air Force Base direction, and rural Sumter County; significant medical and military traffic.

Commute Patterns & Regional Drives

Beaufort commuters operate on a regional grid, not a city grid. Here is how long the most-driven trips actually take from Beaufort:

The volume comes with a cost. Beaufort County recorded 62 traffic fatalities in 2024 — roughly 14.6 per 100,000 residents, per the SC Department of Public Safety fact book.

Freight, Inland Port & Airport Traffic

Add Columbia Metropolitan Airport (CAE) to the picture. It is the region's primary commercial airport, and the drive in from Beaufort is a short hop.

Transit fills a smaller share of the picture. Central Midlands Regional Transit Authority (COMET) runs the city's fixed-route bus and microtransit service; basic fare is 1.5.

All figures sourced from state DOT traffic counts, the state Department of Public Safety fact book, the regional ports authority, and the local airport district — refreshed as new annual reports drop. Live conditions, accidents, and lane closures are above; this section explains the system those incidents move through.