CONWAY, SC (WBTW) – AAA predicts a record number of holiday travelers for 2017 and the extra traffic, coupled with changing weather, is causing asphalt to crumble on some major roads.
Many people have noticed an increase in potholes on Highway 544 in Conway, including Eddie Harris, who travels the road every day for work.
“The potholes around here can get ridiculous,” said Harris. “And the areas that do need help can damage your car really bad just because of the fact that there’s so much traffic.”
SCDOT maintenance engineer, Shannon Welch, agrees the road is in bad shape and many factors could have caused it.
“Cold weather and hot weather and a lot of it heavy traffic,” said Welch. “And, of course, once a hole starts cold weather is tough on it.”
Welch said crews have been patching 544 at least once a week but leading up to the holiday weekend, they’ve been out there almost every day.
“We’re just trying to steadily maintain and patch it as needed until we can get a resurfacing contract,” he added.
However, there is no timeline for when SCDOT will begin that resurfacing project.
“I know it’s not what everyone wants to happen right now but we gotta patch it until we can get it resurfaced as it should be done,” added Welch.
You can put in a maintenance request for SCDOT by clicking: here.
