DARLINGTON COUNTY, SC (WBTW) – Residents living on Lide Springs Road in Darlington County said Thursday they’ve been asking county council for years to help them with the maintenance of their road.
People there claim the county used to maintain it, and since they’ve been living there, the county has stopped.
Darlington County administrator said Lide Springs Road was considered a public road several years ago.
The county did work to maintain it then, but that’s when the neighborhood looked a lot different.
He said only three or four houses were on the road, but several years ago, Lide Springs Road was changed to a private road, leaving residents to take care of it themselves.
“So what are we going to do, what are we going to do,” asked Christine Henigan, a resident of Lide Springs Road.
That’s the question she has for county council after losing relatives who live on that same road.
Henigan said without proper maintenance, the road is nearly impossible to drive down, especially for emergency vehicles.
“They use to come and maintain it. Yes, county, the county road plow, and why they stopped it, I don’t know,” said Henigan.
People who live there said they’ve lost neighbors to strokes, heart attacks, and house fires. They believe it could have all ended differently had an ambulance been able to quickly drive down the road.
“I kept asking them. I said ‘Where’s the ambulance, where’s the ambulance?’ You look down the road and we have all these pot holes, and they are just going real slow and you’re just going (shrugs). It don’t make no sense,” said Johnny Lamb, a resident of Lide Springs Road.
Last year, county leaders said they were making plans to maintain the road because it was seen as a safety hazard, but residents there say that hasn’t happened.
“It’s a shame you live here thirty something years, and raise your family, and you’re going to leave because of pot holes,” said Lamb.
The county said by law, they are not allowed to use county equipment to maintain private roads, but that’s something the county administrator said could be changed if an action were taken by council.
News 13 reached out to four different council members in the county and has yet to receive a response.
