Getting Answers: Emily Ln

GREENVILLE COUNTY, S.C. (FOX Carolina) - Fox Carolina is getting answers about your Upstate road concerns.

This week, we are taking a look at a rough road in Southern Greenville County.

Emily Lane runs about three miles, from Augusta Road to Old Pelzer Road in Piedmont.

People who live on Emily Lane said the road is crumbling apart.

A viewer, Lauren, wrote in telling us the road hasn’t been repaved in years.

“This road hasn’t be paved in 20 years. We’ve had three new neighborhoods with 300+ homes built off of it in the last 5 years. SCDOT fills potholes and fills the crumbling edges of the road but we all know how that works.”

When we talked to neighbors on Emily Lane, they had similar concerns.

“it’s just temporary patches to permanent problems,” longtime resident, Michael Evatt, said.

Michael Evatt moved to Emily Lane twenty years ago. He has watched the area transform, but said the road is years behind all of the development.

“When we first came here, the roads were in good shape. Now it’s horrible. Potholes everywhere and very narrow roads that are so overcrowded that it’s very dangerous to drive this road now,” Evatt said.

Around 2,000 cars hit the three-mile stretch daily, and a with four new neighborhoods going up nearby, Evatt believes the road won’t be able handle the extra traffic.

“Huge developments that we have no infrastructure here for,” Evatt said.

One of the new developments backs up to his backyard.

“We hear there’s going to be between 500 and 800 homes. It’s huge and you already can’t travel the roads now,” Evatt said, “So, you can imagine what it’s going to be like. There’s a lot of wrecks already.”

Between 2017 and 2021, South Carolina Highway Patrol reports 76 wrecks on Emily Lane.

“The overdevelopment, the overcrowding, it’s very dangerous. Every time you go out on the road now you’re taking a chance,” Evatt said.

The South Carolina Department of Transportation has received three requests for pothole patching this year.

“If one of the potholes gets so bad that it’s three or four foot wide, they’ll drop some asphalt in it and leave it. That’s it,” Evatt said.

Evatt said patching the road is not enough.

“It’s horrible. It’s got horrible angles, hills, blind curves. You would probably have to tear this entire road out,” Evatt said.

SCDOT said crews will evaluate Emily Lane for the 2025 Pavement Improvement Program.

There’s no guarantee the road will be selected.

“They were talking about they’re going to fix the roads and all this stuff, but we dont see anything happening,” Evatt said, “Stop promising people you’re going to do things you’re not going to do.”

Currently, no projects are scheduled for Emily Lane. We will continue following up with SCDOT and working to get answers.

Submit a road or bridge concern here.

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