CHESTER COUNTY, S.C. — Traffic was backed up for miles Tuesday morning behind crews working on a bridge that’s part of a South Carolina interstate.
The bridge, which had a large hole in it, is part of Interstate 77 South in Chester County. It’s north of Great Falls Highway and runs over a creek.
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One of the two lanes of I-77 South was closed and traffic was backed up for several miles behind it.
Channel 9′s Tina Terry learned several drivers ran over the hole before the lane was shut down. They were driving 60 mph or more, causing serious damage to some of the vehicles.
Kristy Baquinaki said several customers reported running into the massive hole.
“I had a guy come in and he was coming in pretty slowly,” she said. “He came into the store and said ‘I hope you don’t mind, I’m going to be out at your pump parked there because there’s a pot hole on 77 and it just made my tire flat.’”
It’s not clear what caused the hole, but the Department of Transportation said they first got word about it around 6 a.m. Tuesday.
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“There was another one in a company car where it kind of threw out his whole steering alignment and all that,” Baquinaki said. “He had to get air from my air machine and he was here for a good bit just to make sure he was good.”
According to the Richburg Fire Department, repairs were expected to take eight hours. Drivers like Anthony Jackson said more should be done to prevent things from getting this bad.
“When you get into a situation like this where safety becomes an issue, it’s tremendously concerning,” he said.
DOT officials said the bridge is not scheduled for replacement, but they do inspections regularly. They asked anyone with concerns about South Carolina road-related damage to vehicles to contact them here.
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