GETTING ANSWERS: Highway 357

SPARTANBURG COUNTY, S.C. (FOX Carolina) - Highway 357 was one of our most-requested Spartanburg County roads for Getting Answers.

The roadway is around 14 miles long. You’ll find it between Highway 29, in Greer, to Highway 176, in Campobello.

Our submissions tell us the Lyman and Inman area have it the worst concerning potholes.

Rob Colwell reached out to Getting Answers to bring some attention to Highway 357.

“I used to drive for a living. And it’s one of the worst roads that I can remember having to traveling on, on a daily basis,” Colwell said.

Colwell says the roadway needs to be put back together again.

“You can actually see the cracks—huge cracks in the road, not just potholes, but where road is actually crumbling away from the center line on out to the edge of the road,” said Colwell, “And that tells me that the road is just falling apart.”

Malik Muhassel manages a gas station, right off 357.

“It’s pretty bad. The roads are bad. It’s small,” said Muhassel.

And his customers, like Timo Seppala agree.

“It’s bumpy. It’s rough. I mean, it’d be nice to have it fixed up,” Seppala said.

Seppala feels there needs to be a solution besides patchwork.

“Those are always like putting a Band-Aid on it,” said Seppala, “That’s not really a fix. They’re still rough.”

Colwell wants to see a makeover.

“It needs to be completely resurfaced,” Colwell said, “Their patching jobs last for a couple of weeks, it seems like. And then, it’s right back to where we started again.”

Seppala is looking for something that is not just a quick fix.

“I think it just needs to be resurfaced,” Seppala said, “Get rid of all the potholes. And put new pavement.”

The state’s Department of Transportation is doing just that. Outside of fixing 26 potholes over the past year, Highway 357 from Highway 358 to Campobello will be included in the 2022-2023 Pavement Improvement Program. Crews will soon be paving and reconstructing 357 from Holly Springs Church Road to just north of Highway 296.

“Make it new again. Yeah, fix it all, because filling it up doesn’t work,” Muhassel said.

If you’re wondering why the side from East Wade Hampton Boulevard to Highway 358 looks so nice, it’s because the DOT did some work there in March 2021. The hope is that by 2023, the other side will be just as nice.

“Everybody goes so fast here anyways. So yeah, it’d be better,” said Muhassel, “It’d be a lot better; especially for all the workers, and stuff, coming to build houses. Yeah, it’d be much better.”

The SCDOT says there have been two claims due to vehicle damage on this road—one for a potholes and another for flooding.

Submit a road here.

Copyright 2022 WHNS. All rights reserved.