SOUTH CAROLINA, USA — Trees are coming down on the side of the road and on the island of several interstates. One of those is I-20 near the White Pond Road exit at the Richland/Kershaw County border, and the other is I-77 between Alpine and Killian Road in Northern Richland County.
"I noticed it a while back, it just makes me sick because it's not very aesthetically pleasing when they do all this clear-cutting, says Kershaw County resident Jill Wolfe.
"Those trees have been growing for decades, I just think about the environment, the shade they provide for cars," she added.
News19 had others reach out as well, so we looked into it, and reached out to the South Carolina Department of Transportation about why they are being cut down.
The department says it's for safety clearing.
In an email, to WLTX they SCDOT officials said, "the safety clearing is being conducted on the interstate system to reduce the number and severity of crashes involving hitting trees. The interstate system is a targeted location for improving clear zone due to the high volume of traffic and high occurrences, and tree-related crashes."
As for Wolfe, she understands the need for safety but isn't happy about it. "It just seems like they could have put cable barriers on both sides and left some in the middle instead of clear cutting all of them down."