The project to replace the sewer lines along Red Bank Road in Goose Creek started back in March of 2022 and continues at the same pace — slowly.
This past January, members of the Berkeley County Government called the company to task. Tennessee-based Portland Utilities is doing the work, and at the beginning of this year, company reps went to the Berkeley County Council and asked for more money to complete the project.
The more recent change order was for $590,000 from the county. Council denied the request for the full amount and instead agreed to give the company 75%, or $442,500. The company will get the remaining 25% if it completes the work by June 1.
According to Berkeley County Director of Water and Sanitation Richard Marchand, as of April 23, the question remains whether they will get the work done in time.
“We’ve stepped in and helped them with things they were supposed to handle just to try and help them along,” he said. “But there is only so much we can do as a county.”
The company representative told the council he’s done hundreds of such projects, and this one is the most problematic. The delays, he said, come from unexpected utility locations, getting the proper permits from SCDOT and stop work orders. Marchand will give them a little leeway on that.
“This (sewer line) was a known issue for many, many years, and I think it was just not tackled because it was so difficult, and we are seeing why maybe,” he said.
Berkeley County accepted the bid to replace aging sewer lines with larger pipes to increase capacity. According to the county, the project, bid at $8.3 million, is $3 million over budget and way behind schedule. But it is close.
“In May, we should return all the services to the underground lines instead of the above-ground bypass, and they will also start to remove some of the backup pumping equipment for the bypass,” Marchand said. “We will let it run for about a week to ensure it’s all flowing OK, and then they should remove some of the bypass equipment.”
Marchand said the idea is that the headache and expense will pay off long into the future.
“We are cautiously optimistic we may never have to dig up Red Bank Road ever again,” he said.
Those living, driving and doing business along Red Bank Road want to hear that. But not so fast. Once the sewer is completed, the South Carolina Department of Transportation will take on a second, unrelated project for Red Bank.
Tim Henderson from SCDOT said a safety project will begin to put medians down the middle of the stretch. Henderson said the work should start sometime in the spring or summer of this year after the sewer work ends.
The construction is similar to the completed work on Highway 176 through Goose Creek. The medians allow for right turns in and right turns out only. The work is being done to reduce the serious T-bone collisions. The Goose Creek Police Department reports that after the median construction was done on 176, there were still accidents, but they were far less serious than before.
