Progress has been surprisingly rapid on road and bridge re-openings since the October floods in South Carolina. SC Department of Transportation spokesman Pete Poore says of 541 roads and bridges that were closed statewide on Oct. 5, only 80 remain to be opened.
Poore says that the agency's efforts to put workers on the ground while the rains were still coming down helped give it a head start on recovery. "I think we were as prepared as we could be, as an agency, and I think that paid off."
Another key factor was the help provided by less affected counties to those most in need. Poore says, “As they got their business taken care of they were able to spare people to come to…the central part of the state.”
The South Carolina Department of Transportation reports that 85% of the roads and bridges closed during the floods have been reopened, and more are expected to open soon. Poore says that, while progress has been so good so far, the last of the damaged bridges, as well as roads across dams that D.O.T. does not own, may take months to repair.
The graphic below, published after our interview with Poore, shows more progress: only 69 bridges and roads closed.
Links to D.O.T. documents on road/bridge closings: