In a reversal from its last decision, the S.C. Department of Transportation Commission voted 5-1 Tuesday to move forward with plans to widen a portion of U.S. 17.

The vote applies to six miles of U.S. 17 from Gardens Corner in northern Beaufort County to the Colleton-Beaufort county line at the Harriet Tubman Bridge. However, the project is contingent on negotiations reducing costs, said DOT Commission Chairman Tee Hooper.

Officials dubbed the 22 miles of U.S. 17 from Gardens Corner to Jacksonboro in Colleton County -- where at least 35 deaths have occurred since 1997 -- as dangerous.

The road's fatality rate in both Beaufort and Colleton counties was more than three times that of neighboring Charleston County from 2000 to 2004. Comparable data since is not available.

State Sen. Clementa Pinckney, D-Ridgeland, called the reversal "an early Christmas present." Pinckney lobbied for months to make the project a priority because of safety concerns.

"A lot of prayers have been answered today, and hopefully a lot of lives will be saved in the future," he said.

The project was thought to be dead after the DOT Commission voted Dec. 5 to abandon a low bid offer for the Beaufort phase of the project due to insufficient money. A state program that provides financing for large road projects had offered DOT a $93 million bond that would cover the Beaufort phase of the road's widening, but DOT only had $5 million of the $7.6 million it needed per year to repay the bond.

Pinckney, County Councilman Gerald Dawson, whose district includes the Beaufort stretch of U.S. 17, and other officials went to the DOT Commission's meeting in Columbia on Tuesday morning to revive the issue, which hadn't been on the original agenda.

Hooper said DOT will not borrow the full $93 million, only what it can repay through the $5 million per year the DOT has committed to the project and other earmarked funds, such as the $5 million county voters committed to the project through the sales tax referendum in November.

The $163 million Colleton County portion of the widening project remains unfunded, though Pinckney said he was optimistic that this decision will boost the project's priority. Dawson was just glad the project is no longer languishing.

"The good news is, they finally got the project started," Dawson said.

The timeline for construction has yet to be determined, officials said, but several measures have been taken to improve the road's safety. In July 2005, DOT officials:

Lowered the speed limit from 55 mph to 50 mph,

Eliminated passing zones for the six-mile stretch in Beaufort County,

Doubled the number of road reflectors, and

Installed rumble strips.

Additionally, Gov. Mark Sanford said he would increase the S.C. Highway Patrol's presence on the road.