COLUMBIA, S.C. —
Over the next two months, the daily commute for people who live or work near Clemson Road might take longer.
South Carolina Department of Transportation (SCDOT) officials said they will close a lane on the road beginning Monday.
“We're doing a utility relocation on Clemson Road," said Hannah Robinson with SCDOT. "Basically, what's going on is there's a waterline that needs to be relocated. And in order for us to do that, we're going to have to get into the right lane of Clemson Road. So that's the lane that we're closing, and we're going to have to get under the pavement."
SCDOT is shutting down a single lane on Clemson Road in northeast Richland County. The closure begins on Monday and will last until December. They are also closing the right lane on Hard Scrabble Road leading onto Clemson Road to keep people away from the area so they can relocate a waterline.
“SCDOT is going to go ahead and place those cones out so that traffic, so the traffic stays out of that right lane," Robinson said. "If your business, if you're trying to get into a business, or one of the roads that are off of the area of Clemson Road that's closed, you will still be able to get in and out of there."
SCDOT officials said the single-lane closure will start at the entrance of Hope Baptist Church and go down to Brooke Hollow Drive. Although one lane is open, and people can enter and exit businesses, Kacy Williams, a manager at Pet Supplies Plus, said this will likely affect her store.
“It's going to impact the store a good bit, probably," Williams said. "I know most people don't, most people don't like going over to Two Notch because of the traffic over there, so they come here instead of going to PetSmart. But now, it's going to be traffic over here. Consumer wise, it's going to affect the trucks getting in because they take Hard Scrabble (Road)."
Meanwhile, Williams said a major shopping period is coming up.
"And with the holidays coming up, everyone's going to go down to Sand Hills, so this lane is going to be backed up, probably all the way down to Walgreens down there,” she said.
SCDOT officials also announced that the sidewalks in the area would be closed. This is a populated area, and they want people to be cautious when driving on the road.
“We just ask that people slow down and pay attention, because our crews are going to be in those areas, and we want everybody to go home safe at the end of the day,” said Robinson.
The agency said finding another route may help alleviate traffic.