GETTING ANSWERS: Cowpens Pacolet Road

CHEROKEE COUNTY, SC (FOX Carolina) - After combing through submissions, “Getting Answers” went to check out Cowpens Pacolet Road, near the Cherokee/Spartanburg County line.

Specifically, the worst part starts when you turn right from Green Street onto to Cowpens Pacolet Road and continue toward Cowpens.

Residents like Christine Swinton, who lives along the road, are fed up with the road conditions.

“I wish they would go ahead and do something about this. I am tired of up and down. When you get in that truck or car, or one, and just bounce, bounce on those holes,” Swinton said.

Swinton says she’s lived on the road since the 1970s. She says the potholes that have been patched aren’t holding up.

“If they come along and patch it up, the old trucks; they come along and tear and up,” said Swinton.

There are potholes, dips, and patches. Parts of the sides of the road are falling apart. She talks about the last time she saw work on the road.

“They paved this road in ‘48. I was six years old. All they do now is just, more or less, throw it down and keep on going. Tearing up cars, and they don’t care,” Swinton said, “They ought to be ashamed.”

Cheryl Hamby has lived on the roadway for more than 30 years.

“My front end on my car needs work done to it because of these roads. My husband bought the extended warranty on his truck, because of these roads being so bad,” Hamby said.

The road is also windy. And if cars try to veer over to avoid potholes, they can’t always see what’s coming around the corner, which Hamby says is dangerous.

“This road is terrible. You dodge the potholes, you’re on both sides of the roads,” Hamby said.

SCDOT director of communications, Pete Poore, says pothole fixes are coming, but no repaving is in the work as of yet.

“They’re not resurfacing the whole road, but they’re resurfacing a big, square area around all the potholes that were full-depth patched,” Poore said.

When you cross over White Plains Road onto Old Pacolet Road, the difference is uncanny. Poore says it was repaved in 2018, but the district doesn’t see any dangerous conditions on Cowpens Pacolet Road.

“They’re continuing to monitor it. It is not considered unsafe as long we keep patching the potholes the way we’re doing,” said Poore.

Poore says drivers can report their concerns to the SCDOT.

“They can call our toll-free customer service line. And that request will be processed by a real person,” Poore said.

Swinton says she’s fed up with it all.

“Just tell them to get it fixed for me so I can drive my truck and not bounce all over the road,” Swinton said

When asked about the last time Cowpens Pacolet Road was paved, Poore says their records don’t go back that far.

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