SPRINGDALE, S.C. — A road in Lexington that has been closed since the 2015 floods has reopened.
The October Floods of 2015 devastated many parts of South Carolina and the Midlands.
Many of the roads were washed out because of the heavy rain.
Wilton Road, located between Old Barnwell Road and Rainbow Drive, has been washed out and closed for the last four years.
Originally the South Carolina Department of Transportation told News 19 they were hoping to have the road reopened by the end of April. Crews have been able to work ahead of schedule and now have completed the road.
South Carolina Representative Micah Caskey for District 89 has been helping with the project.
"It's great to see that Wilton Road has finally been opened. Obviously it's taken a lot longer than anybody had hoped or wanted but thanks to the Department of Transportation for finally getting the road opened. It took a lot of people and it was a community effort," said Representative Caskey.
The South Carolina Department of Transportation (SCDOT) officials say part of the reason the road has been out for so long is because the dam is privately owned and not regulated by the South Carolina Department of Environmental Health. The responsibility, then, lies on the dam owners to fix the dam before Wilton Road can be fixed.
Crews began working on Wilton Road in January.
Officials say typically 4,500 cars travel through Wilton Road everyday. Representative Caskey says it was important for the community to have Wilton Road back open.
"We're not the biggest community in the state and sometimes it's easy to forget about small towns like Springdale but thankfully we were able to keep the attention on it," explained Representative Caskey.
The representative says the community is in disbelief and are happy to finally be able to travel down the road again.
One of the biggest plus sides of opening the road back up is for response times for first responders.
"We're really limited by the ways that we can get in and out of the community and so having a road open like Wilton could mean life and death. In addition to convenience, it's important to have that open."
Many people say this was a long time coming and they're happy to get back to normal.
"That's been a really, really positive thing here. Even in the midst of a really tough situation with regards to coronavirus and everything, it's nice to have a little bit of good news."