GETTING ANSWERS: Burnt Gin Road

GAFFNEY, SC (FOX Carolina) - We’ve been working to find out what’s going on with the road conditions on Burnt Gin Road in Cherokee County.

Through our “Getting Answers” submissions and responses from Gaffney drivers on Facebook, we found out the potholes are bad from Highway 18 (Union Highway) to Highway 211 (Asbury Road).

Once you turn on Burnt Gin from Union Highway, you can’t drive a quarter of a mile before you get to a pothole galore.

Andrew Wheeler describes the experience as something you’d feel at a theme park.

“It’s bad. It’s a broke roller coaster is what it is,” Wheeler said.

Wheeler has lived on the road for eight years.

“You go from potholes to major bumps, major bumps break away, then we got bigger potholes,” Wheeler said.

Cameron Wallace lives near Burnt Gin too. He says it’s the talk of the town.

“Everybody knows that you ride the middle of Burnt Gin, because if you’re on the edges, you’re not going to last very long,” Wallace said.

Wallace says he can’t stand driving on it.

“It’s getting to the point where I’ll literally go 10 minutes out of my way just to not have to drive on the road,” Wallace said.

We reached out to the South Carolina Department of Transportation. They weren’t able to tell us the last time the road has been paved.

“All these years, it hasn’t been anything but filling potholes,” said Wheeler.

Pete Poore, communications director for SCDOT, says Burnt Gin Road (S-11-72) was included in their 2022 Resurfacing Program from Highway 211 (Asbury Road) at mile point zero to L-934 (Sandy Lane) at mile point 4.66. He says the majority of S-11-72 is named Burnt Gin Road. However, from mile point zero to 0.39, it is considered Goucher School Road up to the intersection of S-11-138. At this intersection, S-11-138 becomes Goucher School Road and S-11-72 changes to Burnt Gin Road.

Poore says this route is also in a package of roads along with portions of Highway 105 (Wilkinsville Hwy), US 221 (Rutherfordton Hwy), and S-11-31 (Overbrook Drive).

It is expected to be put out for bids in March 2022.

“We drive nice cars and vehicles. We ride bikes. And is the state going to pay for me a front-end alignment?” Wheeler said.

You can submit car damage you believe are due to potholes to the SCDOT.

Poore says due to budget restraints, DOT was unable to program Burnt Gin Road in its entirety. The remaining portion from Sandy Lane to Union Highway will be included in the 2023 Resurfacing Program. He says they have not received the budget for 2023 yet, but when programmed, the let date for remaining portion could be as early as September 2022 or as late as March 2023.

Will the community be willing to wait?

“It’s so bad people are basically having to slow down 10 to 15 miles an hour to not tear up their vehicles. I mean, I’ve had to put three sets of shocks on my truck in the last 12 months,” said Wallace.

For drivers like Wallace, it has been a long time coming. He’s just looking forward to, finally, some peace and quiet on the roadway.

“I’d love to see it paved or they can just rip it up and make all dirt. I mean, we’d be better off that way than what we’re dealing with now,” Wallace said.

Poore says the SCDOT expects the second portion of the road to be awarded in April 2022 with work beginning as early as May 2022. However, this will be at the contractor’s discretion.

Fox Carolina’s “Getting Answers” plans to check back at that time to find out.

To submit a roadway, click here.

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