DARLINGTON, SC (WBTW) – A Darlington student who has asked Darlington County Council for a road to be paved since May 2017, has seen Darlington County make progress on the road.

15-year-old Cameron Graham said his school bus driver would not pick him up last year, when there was bad weather because of the unpaved road.

“When it would rain the road would be very bad,” Graham said. “Sometimes even impassible. I guess they [the bus drivers] didn’t want to get the buses to get bogged down,” he explained. “They would tell me I’d have to find an alternate transportation to school.”

Graham has gone to several Darlington City Council meetings in the past year, and has asked council to pave Flatnose Road.

“They [Council] didn’t know if it was a public or private road,” the 15-year-old said. “We finally realized that it was a public road because on the public road, the signs are green, and on the private roads the signs are blue, and that’s when they [the county] started taking action.”

Graham said he’s grateful for the questions that News13 asked.

“I want to thank News13 for staying in contact with me, asking me about it,” he said. “Is it getting paved? What’s going on? Just being so concerned.”

The 15-year-old said he was worried about missing school because he didn’t have transportation since his mother is blind, and unable to drive him to class.

“I was very worried about my education,” Graham said. “I would just stay home because I wouldn’t have transportation to school. I would just have an unexcused absence.”  

Graham said he never saw a change in the road last summer so he went to two Darlington County Council meetings this year. He said it wasn’t until this year that he saw a change.

“I get very excited coming home every day,” said Graham. “I see the people working on the back road and the steam rollers, and I just get so excited knowing that I made this happen.”

Graham said he has tried to reach out to the Darlington County Administrator to find out more information about the project, but has not heard back.

News13 reached out to Darlington County Schools and the Darlington County Administrator to find out when the road will be completely paved, but did not hear back.

Graham said he’s excited to have the bus pick him up again.

“I was always told if you want change to happen, you get out and fight for it, and it will happen,” he said.