GETTING ANSWERS: Old Cherry Road

PICKENS, S.C. (FOX Carolina) - We found out that The City of Clemson, Clemson University, and The South Carolina Department of Transportation are collaborating to make improvements to Old Cherry Road.

This road is between West Cherry Road—a “Getting Answers” road we’ve covered before—and Cherry Road/Old Stone Church Road, in Clemson. Cherry Road leads right to Clemson’s campus. The other side of the road ends at the Oconee County line.

Old Cherry Road is also home to several of the university’s facilities, such as the agricultural service lab and the crop improvement center.

Madeline Tolerico is a senior at Clemson University.

“I take that road pretty often. And it’s definitely not in the best condition, I would say. Yea, a lot of potholes,” Tolerico said.

This area has been David Wallace’s community since the 90s.

“Crunch, crunch, crunch,” Wallace continues, “That’s all you hear in your car.”

We asked Wallace if anything has changed since he’s lived there.

“Nothing much. The road’s terrible. I mean, it’s really bad. And it just gets worse with the rain and stuff coming and flooding it out,” said Wallace.

No word on the last time this road was paved, but the state’s Department of Transportation says there are no reports of standing water, but it’s having maintenance review it. David’s wife Karen says the road has gotten worse.

“The degrading of the road—so much traffic going over, constantly, back and forth; it’s made the gravel, just, disintegrate,” Karen said.

Old Cherry Road starts at the bridge over the Seneca River, connecting Seneca and Clemson. With it being about a mile from Campus, it’s no surprise more than 8,000 vehicles take this route each day. There tend to be back-ups near Cherry Road.

“It’s really bad right there at the intersection. It’s a lot of traffic,” Wallace said, “You’ve got the college right there.”

Clemson facilities line this road all the way until the end. So, the faculty has to deal with the potholes too. The SCDOT repaired ten in the past year, but Tolerico says it could use more than that.

“Definitely even it out,” said Tolerico, “Yea, just that we’re not driving over a ton of bumps.”

The DOT says Old Cherry Road is a part of the resurfacing contract with a few other roads.

“A lot of bumps, a lot of vibrations, a lot of wamp, wamp from your tires hitting the different potholes,” said Karen.

The city and the university have pitched in on an intersection improvement project at the intersection of Cherry, according to the SCDOT. New turning lanes and a traffic signal are on the way.

“It does give you hope that, maybe, one day we’ll see an improvement in the road,” Karen said, “I just hope it’s in my lifetime.”

The paving project is set to be let out for bids in January 2023. Work should start soon after. And the completion time for the signal plans is yet to be determined.

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