IRMO, S.C. — As of this month, Irmo town council is working to enhance safety in a neighborhood called Hidden Oaks.
This is after police said a suspicious device found near a bridge in this neighborhood last August blocked off residents' only entrance.
Council is looking to help by adding an emergency entrance and exit to the neighborhood.
"If another incident like that happened, it would make it a whole lot easier for everyone else to get out, go to work, do whatever they were planning on doing," Meaghan Keenan, Irmo resident said.
According to Irmo councilman Erik Sickinger, it would be a locked and gated road with limited access.
"Just for the sake of having what I would consider a fire road, not a maintained road, not something that's paved," Sickinger said.
Council would need approval from land owners and developers.
Other neighborhoods also have this issue of one entrance and exit, but this one in particular sits on a bridge that leads to 60 houses.
"The challenge that we have is that we can't knock down anyone's house to build this," Sickinger said.
Right now options include connecting Cressfell Road or the empty lot on Torrington Road to a private road, extending the dead end of Castle Vale or maneuvering around the retention pond at Castle Vale Court.
If approved, funding would come from the town's general fund or via a federal, state or county grant.
This is the beginning of the conversation for this safety road. Council is looking for input, so if you live in Hidden Oaks, you can reach out to them via email or phone call with your thoughts.