GREAT FALLS, S.C. — In just over a week, state Highway 97 outside Great Falls will be blocked for as long as two years. The bridge over Rocky Creek is 60 years old and is due for replacement.
South Carolina Department of Transportation engineers say the bridge is not dangerous, and they are not issuing an emergency shutdown. However, the roughly $6 million project was drawn up years ago, and funding is now available to move forward.
About 2,000 cars a day cross the bridge on Highway 97, and one of them is driven by John Jones for his business. He's worried about the coming detour.
"You're adding about 10 to 15 miles to my trip," Jones said.
He works at a body shop just a mile from where the bridge construction will go on. The work will have a tremendous impact on the entire area.
"I hope they can get it done and knocked out quick. I just hate being cut off from town like that," Jones said.
The official detour set up by SCDOT stretches 13.4 miles and connects to several other major roads.
However, locals will find shortcuts around the closure, and one of them is likely to be Golf Course Road. That's where E.C. Powers lives, and he knew nothing about the plans until Channel 9 shared them.
"It hits me like a ton of bricks. First I've heard of it. That's bad. That's bad," Powers said.
His concern is that detoured traffic, including large trucks, will rumble through his quiet neighborhood and into Great Falls.
"There's a school just down the road, so you've got that traffic, too," Powers said.
Great Falls Police Chief Steven Rice was surprised to see a letter from the SCDOT just Thursday. It was the first notice he's had of the closure and bridge repair.
"Apparently no one else in Great Falls received this letter but me," he told Channel 9.
Fire Chief David Galloway voiced major concerns about the long closure.
"It will impact us greatly," he said.
Now, his department and surrounding volunteer departments are going to have to find ways to answer emergency calls quickly -- a challenge when the most-used highway is impassable.
"Usually we have three- to four-minute response times to be on scene for a call, and this could push us to 10 minutes in some areas," Galloway said.
SCDOT said the project should be finished by the fall of 2016. Signs alerting drivers to the closure should be posted in a few days.
WSOC
