COLUMBIA, S.C. — If you drive down Interstate 77 south between mile markers 4 and 3 in Columbia, you'll notice the problem. It's right on the concrete bridge on this busy section of interstate.
The road is in need of repair: It's riddled with potholes and deteriorating patchwork making it a bumpy ride at best.
"You can see them as your approaching but it's too late when you get up on them and then it's like 'boom,'" said one driver we spoke to. "It's real rough."
"It basically will cause an accident if you're not aware and know where they are," said one semi truck driver.
Despite those concerns, this bridge on the interstate won't be replaced anytime soon.
"Quite frankly that section of I-77, those bridges, those concrete decks, are not high enough on the priority list right now," said Pete Poore, a spokesman for the South Carolina Department of Transportation (SCDOT). "Currently the only plan at this moment is to keep patching potholes as well as we can."
Back in 2017, the South Carolina legislature passed a roads bill that raised the gas tax incrementally to pay for road improvements. But while the state is four years into that plan, Poore said the state is 30 years behind on deferred maintenance.
He said to fix the bridge properly, they would have to do a reconstruction, which means the desk would by hydroblasted--or hit with a high powered blast of water--and then a concrete overlay would be put down on each deck.
The cost for that is approximately $10 million.
"You can look at the priority list today and it could change tomorrow," Poore said. "When one project is done, the other moves up. I don't know how fast that will be."
"Just bear with us and we will patch the potholes as best we can until a better solution or a reconstruction solution is available."