GETTING ANSWERS: Big Creek Road

ANDERSON COUNTY, S.C. (FOX Carolina) - We’re committed to Getting Answers about Big Creek Road, in the Belton area.

The road runs from Highway 20 to Cannon Bottom Road, with the actual Big Creek running underneath it.

Your submissions tell us the problem area is from Murphy Road until Cannon Bottom.

Drivers tell us the creeks aren’t the only thing big in Belton. Allan Black has lived on the road for at least 40 years.

“It’ll vibrate you completely out the road sometimes if you hit them right,” said Black.

Tracy Brock says the worst part is near Open Door Community Church. She has lived on Big Creek Road all her life.

“Next to the church, some of those holes are about that big around,” Brock said.

Woodson only moved to the area a few years ago. He says the potholes are noticeably wide.

“Some of them are like a manhole,” Woodson said, “If you don’t go around them, usually, you have to check your tires every other day, at least.”

Once you cross Youth Center Road, the patches and potholes are hard to miss. And the bridge over Big Creek is rough.

It’s a road heavily traveled. The state’s Department of Transportation says over 1,500 vehicles take this road daily. You may see lots of heavy trucks zooming by. James Holdbrooks that’s due to the landfill nearby. He’s lived on Big Creek Road for over 30 years.

“It’s pretty rough in places more than other places. Further you go down, the worse it is where all the trucks are turning in and out the dump there,” Holdbrooks said.

Residents agree it has been at least a decade since it was last paved.

“It has been at least 15, 20 years ago anyway,” said Holdbrooks.

“It has probably been 10 or 15 years ago, at least,” said Black.

Black and Holdbrooks could be right. The SCDOT says they’re not sure of the last time the problem area has been paved. That would be Rector Road to Highway 20 in Williamston.

Brock has some questions for the DOT.

“I want to know if they would fix it to keep us from tearing our cars up,” Brock said, “Tearing our cars up—knocking them out of line when they hit them.”

According to the SCDOT, Big Creek Road currently ranks number one for the next round of Federal Aid Secondary Resurfacing in Anderson County. It will either be on Anderson’s 2023 PIPP resurfacing contract or funded by the Anderson Section to be done is from near Rector Road toward Highway 20 in the town of Williamston. The plan is to do an asphalt later until closer to the curb and gutter section near Williamston; which will probably be more of a rehab, full depth patch, mill, and fill job.

Holdbrooks wonders if the fix will hold up.

“It wouldn’t ever hurt to upkeep the road, you know? They keep talking about infrastructure, but then, hardly anything gets done,” said Holdbrooks.

Black says he wasn’t impressed with the last pave.

“Re-pave the sections that are bad, because they didn’t do a good enough job to start with,” Black said, “The pothole—just getting worse by the day. It has been this way for a long time. The road actually got bad right after they paved it the last time. And it seems like the people that paved the roads now don’t do such a good job anymore, in my opinion.”

Now, the side going toward Highway 20 looks a lot better. That’s because the section from Highway 20 near the gas “tank farms” until the area close to Rector Road was reclaimed and paved in 2015. The SCDOT has responded to 22 work requests for potholes in the past year.

Brock is hoping they’ll finish what they started.

“I hope they get it fixed soon,” said Brock.

Holdbrooks says he’s a home-body, but he looks forward to improvements.

“Anything that’ll help improve it would be a help,” Holdbrooks said, “Not only for me but for people who that do a lot of traveling.”

Some submissions also mention a big bulge in the road as well. The SCDOT says the repaired section bled through and traffic made it form a rut and a bowl, forming a mound on the backside. They see it as nothing major. And it is safe, for now. They are setting up a full-depth patching operation next week to take it out.

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