COLUMBIA (WACH) -- A new DMV office is open and ready for use in the Midlands.
South Carolina Department of Motor Vehicles officials closed two smaller local branches to bring users more services.
A ribbon cutting was held Tuesday morning at the new and improved office located at 228-A ONeil Court off Two Notch Road in Columbia.
"The offices we closed were inadequate and in need of significant renovation," said SCDMV Executive Director Kevin Shwedo. "The Decker office was over-crowded and the Dutch Plaza location did not offer full services. By closing those two offices and opening this larger facility, we better serve our Columbia community and save taxpayer dollars."
The new office has 19 service windows, two camera stations to handle more than 20,000 transactions a month, and full driver and vehicle services including road skills tests.
The facility also boasts a new emergency contact online transaction that allows those with a driver's license, beginners permit or ID card to enter emergency contact information for their SCDMV record.
'Without it, the only thing law enforcement has to go on is the name and address on a person's driver's license or ID card," said Shwedo. "Many times that information is not enough to locate the nearest relative. Using the emergency contact information, the next of kin can be just a phone call away."
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