The collapse of an Upstate bridge on Monday put an exclamation point on officials’ need to fix the state’s aging infrastructure.
The car-sized hole in a bridge over an inlet of Lake Keowee in Pickens County appeared just days after the state Department of Transportation’s governing board approved the next round of bridges for repair. No one was injured when part of an entire lane fell into the water.
The 57-year-old bridge is part of a network of aging bridges that DOT Secretary Justin Powell has said since his tenure started must be a top priority for repairs.
The bridge, located near the golf course community Old Edwards Reserve at Lake Keowee, was slated for replacement later this year. The timetable is being moved up, said Department of Transportation spokeswoman Hannah Robinson.
About 1,800 vehicles usually cross the bridge daily. A 22-mile detour is expected to last for months. Construction should start soon and be completed in early 2026.
During an inspection earlier this year, the bridge was determined to be in “fair” condition, meaning it had some minor issues but no structural problems, according to the DOT. About 55% of all bridges in the state were reported to be in fair condition in 2024, according to data collected by the Federal Highway Administration.
Because of its condition, the two-lane bridge on Crowe Creek Road (state Highway 133) was load restricted, meaning trucks and other heavy vehicles were not supposed to cross, according to the state DOT.
But a truck weighing more than the posted 15-ton limit used it anyway. That’s what caused the damage, the agency said in an update Wednesday.
Built in 1968, the Lake Keowee bridge is among about a third of the 8,400 state-maintained bridges nearing or past its intended lifespan. The bridge is far from the oldest in the state, however, with roughly 500 dating back at least 90 years, according to the DOT.
In 2023, then-Secretary Christy Hall asked the Legislature for a five-year, $1 billion commitment for bridge work. The House’s budget plan provided the first installment of $200 million, but the Senate refused.
Then a span of Interstate 20 in Kershaw County had to be closed for emergency repairs four days over Christmas of that year. The closure should serve as a wake-up call, Gov. Henry McMaster said in a letter asking legislators to spend a surplus of state sales taxes on bridge repairs.
Legislators didn’t send the $500 million that McMaster recommended last year.
But they did start approving $200 million allotments as initially requested, adding to the $239 million already dedicated annually for bridge work.
The second allotment, approved in the budget that took effect July 1, will repair or replace 159 additional bridges. The DOT commission approved the list Thursday.
Of those, 79 are bridges on interstates or primary routes, and 80 are on secondary routes, according to the agency.
“Our team is already hard at work putting this money to use to help people and goods move through South Carolina,” Powell said in a news release.
The initial infusion of $200 million put 119 bridges on the list last July.
The Pickens County bridge that collapsed at 1:40 p.m. Monday was not a new addition.
The transportation commission put it on the list in December of 2021, after the federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act provided an additional $1.3 billion in federal highway funding over five years.
Construction is either underway or complete on 416 of the state’s bridges the agency named in 2017 as priorities to replace or repair within 10 years, or by 2027, the agency said in a news release. The 278 bridges added in the past two years go beyond the agency’s goal of fixing 500 bridges over that decade, officials have said.
Editor’s note: This article was updated Wednesday, July 23, with more information from the Department of Transportation on what caused the collapse and how long the bridge will be closed.