Tuesday night, Dorchester County Council unanimously approved a request for additional funding to repair and widen Delemar Highway. The two-lane road runs past Ashley Ridge High School.
This $1.5 million in additional funding from Dorchester County will be added to the $17 million from the State Infrastructure Bank, and $1 million from Dorchester Transportation Commission.
18-year-old Brionna Burnell and her unborn daughter both died on Delemar Highway in February 2015. Brionna’s mother, Kerry Williams, says it needs to be fixed before another family loses their child.
She says, “I would give anything to have her back, I want to hear her voice, I want to see her smile, to have her back.”
Williams says Brionna was on her way to work in the afternoon and something caused her to swerve. Her car hit a pothole, flipped, and killed her.
Williams says, “There’s two lanes, it does definitely need to be widened. I think that would help tremendously. But the road work, if they’re not going to widen it, then they definitely need to do road work because the potholes are outrageous.”
Brionna’s family and friends have a memorial for her and baby Laela. They come out to visit often and are reminded of how dangerous Delemar Highway is.
Williams says, “They need to pay attention and they need to make it better for other families so this doesn’t happen again. It needed to be done before my daughter lost her life, and especially now I want it done for other families so they don’t have to feel the pain and go through everything that we’re going through.”
Saving another life by making Delemar safer would make sure Brionna’s legacy lives on in the community.
Williams says, “I will always miss her, always. But I’ll honor her. I’m proud of her, and now it’s time I can make her proud.”
Dorchester County is currently working to widen Delemar Highway, but one local attorney says there is more the Department of Transportation can do in the meantime to save lives.
Attorney with Bland-Richter Law Firm, Scott Mongillo, says, “What we are asking them to do now, in a series of letters we sent, is the limit the size of vehicles that can travel on this section of the road when Ashley Ridge High School is in session. This is a common-sense solution. We feel like to keep tractor-trailers, cement trucks, dump trucks, off the road with the school buses and our most inexperienced drivers.”