December 27, 2022
University of South Carolina college students invited Preston Felkel, the firm’s SC Structures Manager, to participate in an interview with other USC alumni who are providing various services on the first two phases of the $2.08 billion Carolina Crossroads project (CCR). The CCR improvements to what’s known as “Malfunction Junction” in central South Carolina consist of five phases and include 14 widened interstate miles, 43 new bridges and seven reconstructed interchanges. Early construction on Phases 1 and 2 began in early summer of 2022. The entire project is expected to be completed by 2029.
Prior to joining ICE, Preston received his M.S. in Structural Engineering and B.S. in Civil Engineering from the University of South Carolina. Living only a few miles from the project, Preston is one of 134,000 vehicles that regularly travels through the corridor, and he has a personal understanding of the great need to improve the interchange.
During the interview, Preston described his role as the Lead Structural Designer his perspective tasks. He also recognized other USC graduates who collaborated with the entire team to resolve issues during the design and break new ground of possibilities into viable solutions.
“I take pride and feel it’s a privilege to work on this project. This area has been a big problem for years, and we’re all working together to fix it,” Felkel says. “It’s nice how everything aligned for so many of us to participate in it. There’s a lot of USC grads that are working on this project, so we all have a sense of pride working together to achieve the same goal.”
