GETTING ANSWERS: Highway 88 follow-up

ANDERSON COUNTY, S.C. (FOX Carolina) - Highway 88 has had a makeover since we last saw it.

Also known as Old Greenville Highway, it runs about 17 miles from Easley to Pendleton. We covered the road in Aug. 2021 when it was riddled with potholes.

Stanley Childress says the axel on his trailer had taken enough.

“A year ago, it didn’t look too good, really. It was just hole, after hole, after hole, after hole,” Childress said.

Now, Gary Campbell has noticed something different.

“It’s not bad to drive on, now, at all. I don’t know if I’d call it a pleasure, but I’d have to say it probably is compared to what it used to be,” said Campbell.

The Slabtown area was where drivers say the potholes were more noticeable. Ricky Cochran doesn’t live too far from it.

“Highway 88 had potholes big enough... I mean, you could bust your tires,” Cochran said.

The South Carolina Department of Transportation started repairs in Feb. 2021. The work includes paved shoulders, guardrail upgrades, new markings, raised pavement markers, full-depth reclamation, and full-depth patching with hot mix overlays.

Drivers are happy, to say the least.

“They’ve done a great job restoring it,” Cochran continues, “They’ve done a lot of work on it.”

Crews paved from Highway 178, in Pendleton, to Highway 8, according to the SCDOT. They finished within the last month or so. We noticed fresh pavement starting right at the intersection of Firetower Road.

“It’s alright now. You can get from point A to point B without having to have a front-end alignment,” said Childress, “Roadwork took forever, but that’s alright. It’s the DOT.”

The DOT says traffic has been holding steady at 6,400 vehicles daily. Those in the area say the new work comes with one downfall.

“Speeding is a big problem. I think that’s more than the road being nice. And people are just not looking, but speeding is a big deal,” Cochran adds, “The concern is, now, the cars are moving too fast. And we’re having more and more accidents.”

“You can look and see people going way above [the speed limit],” Campbell said.

The South Carolina Highway Patrol’s data doesn’t show an increase in accidents or speeding tickets since the completion of the highway.

“It’s definitely better on the vehicles,” Childress said, “Speeding’s going to happen, no matter where you are. That’s about inevitable, but, all in all, it’s better than nothing.”

The SCDOT expects this work to add 25 to 30 years of service life to the roadway.

Submit a road here.

Copyright 2022 WHNS. All rights reserved.