FAIRFIELD COUNTY – A highway project in Fairfield causing angst for drivers is the recent patching of potholes on a stretch of U.S. Hwy 321, just south of where it intersects with Hwy 269.
The roughness of the road caused by the patching has been the subject of conversations between Fairfield County Councilman Douglas Pauley and road officials.
“The road is so badly patched in that stretch,” Pauley said, “that vehicles actually shake as they drive over it. SCDOT has even had to post a sign warning drivers that they need to slow down to 25 miles per hour.”
While Pauley said he was told at one point by one road official not to expect the road to be repaired until 2022, it looks now like the project could be repaired sooner, he said.
According to Poorer, the 6.5 mile stretch of patching on Hwy 321 is now scheduled for scraping and repaving all the way to the Richland County line.
“The project will require the contractor to ground down the new patches, then re-patch and resurface with new asphalt and pave the shoulders as well,” Poorer said.
The bidding process for the project is expected to begin in April.
“We’re going to expect the successful bidder to have the project completed in the Fall of 2021,” he said.
“That’s a long time to be driving on such a rough surface,” Pauley said. “But at least the completion is in sight.”