A presentation by the SCDOT, which was scheduled for Monday evening about the Main Street Bridge repair status in Conway, was canceled.
“They were supposed to come to the meeting tonight,” Conway City Council member Ashley Smith told News13. “It’s very disappointing. It kind of makes you feel that we’re not important and you know, Conway matters. And I want everybody to know that we matter. We may not be Greenville, we may not be Myrtle Beach, we may not be Charleston, but we’re Conway and we do matter.”
Conway City Council member Jean Timbes was also upset because she said she’s been getting a multitude of calls from people looking for an update on the status of the repairs.
“I would like to register my disappointment,” she said. “I have put people off saying I’ll get back to you, now, once I know something more, and until they come and tell us something. Well, that’s not happening.”
Included on the original agenda for Conway’s City Council meeting was a presentation by an SCDOT Resident Construction Engineer, on the Cultra Road resurfacing project and Main Street Bridge repair status.News13 has been asking SCDOT officials for an update on the bridge project for a week, but still has not received one as of Monday night.
The bridge closed in January, and is expected to remain closed for months.
Conway Mayor Barbara Bellamy told News13 she’s spoken to SCDOT officials who say there are more structural issues than they expected.
“We’re not necessarily surprised or shocked by that, but they did need to go back and realign their plan,” said Bellamy.
Mayor Bellamy says SCDOT representatives plan to provide a report on the status of the bridge as early as the first council meeting in March.
As for Monday’s meeting, News13 reached out to SCDOT officials about why the agency’s engineer did not attend, but we have still not heard back.
