Date Published: July 23, 2006   

3 years later, U.S. 521 section still incomplete

By SHARRON HALEY
Item Staff Writer
shaley@theitem.com

MANNING — A 250-foot section of U.S. 521 is holding up completion of a widening project that began more than three years ago.

Work on the portion of U.S. 521 between the Sumter County line and Interstate 95 began June 9, 2003, and was scheduled for completion in August 2005; however, problems with the soil quality in a small section of the project have stymied operations.

“Months ago, I was telling people work on the project would be completed in the next couple of months, but a 1,000-foot section of [U.S.] 521 has rutted, causing delays and adding to the work of the contractor for the project,” said Kevin Webber, Clarendon County’s resident construction engineer with the South Carolina Department of Transportation. “We’ve tested the soil, the base and the asphalt in the DOT lab and in an outside lab to isolate the problem and correct it.”

Webber said the test results conflicted with one another and were unable to isolate the problem.

To get to the base of the problem, Webber said the contractor for the project removed the asphalt, dug one foot and introduced a mixture of cement and a stone base on top of four inches of dirt.

“This corrected the rutting problem, but when we were testing for compaction, an area of about 200 to 250 feet did not meet specifications,” he said. “So, we’re actually back to the drawing board.”

Although the problem area has been reduced, the project is still behind schedule.

“It’s all in the hands of our headquarters,” Webber said. “Our engineers are working on what steps we take next.”

Recent heavy construction off U.S. 521 near the section isn’t helping with the problem, the resident engineer said.

“Heavy loaded vehicles are taking a toll on the road,” he said. “It’s definitely had an impact, but it shouldn’t have caused the problem.”

Webber said the bulk of the problem lies in the moisture content of the soil beneath the asphalt.

“We’re building a road on soil with a high clay content,” he said. “There’s moisture in clay. When the road was built and set up, the soil was dry; now moisture is seeping up through and out from under the road. We hoped the concrete would bridge the gap and it worked for a portion of the area, but we still have to find a solution for the remaining 250 feet.”

Webber said soil conditions are a hazard of road construction projects.

“You don’t know what’s underneath the asphalt that’s there,” he said. “The project is taking longer than what we would have liked, but we don’t want to just put a band-aid on the problem. We want it fixed right.”

According to the transportation department’s Web site, the 250-foot portion of subgrade failure falls within a two-mile section of construction on U.S. 521. The cost of the two-mile project was $300,000; however, transportation officials anticipate the cost will rise because of the subgrade failure. The amount of the increase won’t be known until the problem is solved.


Contact Staff Writer Sharron Haley at shaley@theitem.com or 803-435-8511.


For updates on progress with the U.S. 521 widening project, visit http://www.scdot.org/ and click on the Construction Updates link. From there, go to the blue box for Projects By County and click Clarendon. Another blue box will appear with links to the latest news on all portions of these projects.