Getting Answers: Brushy Creek Road

EASLEY, S.C. (FOX Carolina) - Fox Carolina is committed to getting you answers about roads around the Upstate.

It’s been one year since we told you about this bumpy road in Easley. This week, we are taking another look at Brushy Creek Road.

Neighbors said it’s a bumpy ride riddled by dozens of potholes.

“Some of the potholes are real deep. It’s bone jarring. Teeth jarring,” Lewis Smith, who lives on Brushy Creek Road, said.

Several viewers recently writing in to tell us the pothole problem has not gone away, and asked when the South Carolina Department of Transportation will fix the road.

Jean, from Easley, said, “Patches on top of patches. Many deep potholes and the shoulders are crumbling off. There is increasing traffic on the road due to numerous big subdivisions being built.”

The two-mile stretch between Three Bridges Road and Meadow Ridge Road in Anderson County is riddled with rough patches and large craters.

Smith’s home of forty-four years sits on the busy road. “Theres a lot of traffic on brushy creek road now.”

SCDOT estimates the road sees 180,000 more drivers now compared to ten years ago, with a daily average of 2,600 drivers.

Increasing traffic is causing the road to crumble.

“With the amount of traffic, plus the construction, the big trucks, cement trucks, and delivery trucks, Brushy Creek Road is getting pretty damaged around here. Potholes show up almost weekly,” Smith said.

We heard similar stories when visiting this road in February 2022.

Last year, Leia Kanaan told us, “The road is in desperate need of repaving and I’m surprised that they haven’t repaved it yet.”

A year later, the potholes are still here and neighbors said patching is not working.

“You’ll be on top of one and cant dodge it,” Smith said, “When they do the patchwork, they just put down tar then sprinkle gravel on top of it. It lasts for two or three months then it’s back an open pothole again.”

Neighbors want to know why DOT has not repaved the road.

“It seems like the Department of Transportation is not keeping up with the amount of growth thats going on in this area,” Smith said.

Pete Poore with SCDOT said crews are catching up on decades of road issues, and it will be a while before Brushy Creek Road gets any better.

“It will probably be a number of years before that road will get some attention. The ten-year plan we’re using to resurface roads is to take care of thirty years of unfunded neglected pavement work.”

Poore said they may have another solution.

“If the Anderson County Transportation Committee sees it fit to tackle Brushy Creek Road, it would be much easier for them to put out a contract to handle one road than it is for SCDOT,” Poore said, “We’re asking them to consider handling the work on this road.”

DOT does not have a timeline on when this could happen and officials are still working with the County Transportation Committee to try and get this project on the books.

We will continue following up and working to get answers.

Submit your road and bridge concerns and FOX Carolina will work on getting answers for you.

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