County staff outlines roughly $10 million plan to replace 11 aging culverts and reduce flooding

A county staff member said the county is replacing 11 aging culverts — including work on Huff Road — to improve drainage and maintain emergency access during storms. “What what you see behind us is a culvert replacement project on Huff Road,” the staff member said, describing the site shown to attendees.

The staff member said the work is funded primarily through a grant tied to the South Carolina Infrastructure Improvement Program (SCIP), with the Rural Infrastructure Authority providing the bulk of the money and the county covering the remainder. “The total total budget is about, about $10,000,000,” the staff member said, adding that roughly $8 million comes from the authority and more than $2 million comes from the county in a roughly 75/25 split.

Why it matters: the speaker said the replacements address repeated flooding and failing corrugated metal pipes that were often too small or in poor condition. Replacing them with concrete or precast concrete units, the staff member said, will improve drainage flow, reduce instances of washed-out roadways that require repairs, and help keep roads passable for emergency services during heavy rain.

The project has been underway since about 2023, the staff member said. Staff completed design work for each of the 11 sites, submitted permitting applications to the state environmental permitting authority (described in the transcript as the “South Carolina Department of Environmental Services”), and acquired necessary easements on both sides of affected roads. “This project has been been ongoing since, about 2023,” the staff member said.

Construction logistics and schedule: the staff member said the county expects each culvert installation to take about 120 days (approximately four months). The county’s scheduled completion date for the program is April, and the speaker said the county must have the grant funds expended and reimbursed to it by June 1 to satisfy the rural infrastructure authority’s deadline.

No formal vote or policy action was reported in the presentation. The staff member framed the effort as a mitigation measure ahead of hurricane seasons and heavy-storm events, noting recent storms in the last year or two that flooded streets and washed out culverts. The presentation did not specify contractor names, the precise schedule for each site, or the exact final budget figure beyond the approximate amounts provided.

The county did not announce additional public hearings or board votes in the presentation; staff outlined the permitting, easement and construction steps remaining under the grant timetable.