LEXINGTON COUNTY, S.C. — Some Lexington County residents are speaking up about their local infrastructure, saying dirt roads across the area need to be paved.
These residents live off Pine Plane Road and Huckabee Mill Road. They share with News 19 that they've been wanting their road paved since the 70s.
And with all the recent rain we've had, it's made the problem worse.
Lionel Jeffcoat and his cousin Christopher Lykes have lived next to these roads since the 1970s and their families did before them.
They tell News 19 it's a big hassle driving back and forth on their unpaved dirt road, even more so because of the flooding caused by rain in the past two weeks.
"That day two weeks ago my oldest brother was supposed to be going to a doctor's appointment. I couldn't get through. Didn't have four wheel drive," Lionel Jeffcoat, Lexington County resident said.
Jeffcoat explains he's been calling Lexington County consistently and petitioning for change. But that hasn't resulted in much success, so they reached out to News19.
"You've got to be consistent in letting them know," Christopher Lykes, Lexington County resident said.
Jeffcoat and Lykes tell News 19 their road was skipped over being paved.
"From 1988 they did pave from Highway 6 about to Muller Road, which is about three quarters of a mile. Then in 2020/21 they did from 692 to Highway 6. They skipped and went all the way up to Gaston area from there up to 176. It's paved. And this is the only part of the road that's not paved," Jeffcoat said.
We reached out to Lexington County's public works council chair, Darrell Hudson and he explains that these other roads Jeffcoat is referencing are maintained by SCDOT, not Lexington County, meaning they're on a separate priority list.
But online records seem to suggest SCDOT may not be in charge of that road either.
Hudson tells News 19 he wishes he could pave everyone's dirt road, but there's just not enough money.
Councilman Larry Brigham explains the same issue exist in District Two.
"You're looking at a million dollars plus a mile to pave a dirt road, so you see what kind of dollars that it takes to get roads paved so they can be paved a lot easier. Just my district alone, this doesn't include the rest of the district, but mine has 270 miles of dirt roads. So there's no way they can all be paved in a few years," Brigham said.
Lexington County officials explain they tried their best to advocate for the penny tax this past November election cycle, but it didn't pass, meaning the funding for these fixes will continue to be hard to come by.
Lexington County explains there are the five factors that determine dirt road paving priority:
1 - Maintenance Cost
2 - Density
3 - Average Daily Traffic
4 - School Bus Usage
5 - Petition Age
In the meantime, the county suggests that folks keep advocating for change in their neighborhoods by contacting their Lexington County representatives.