'Make Great Falls Great Again': Signs draw attention to dangerous road problem

GREAT FALLS, S.C. — They say you can't fight City Hall, so Jody Knight got creative.

"I've almost been hit there. My family's almost been hit," Knight said.

St. Michaels Avenue in Great Falls runs off Highway 99, and for months now, two orange cones have been sitting in the road, marking an area where a water line project was done.

The problem is: That project was done at least three months ago, and the cones are still there.

"This is a main road that people travel on, to get back and forth to school," Knight said.

Late Friday, Channel 9 saw a lot of traffic on the road, which is a popular route to Great Falls High School, located a block over.

Neighbors said the intersection there is not safe to drive through because cars turning from Highway 99 onto St. Michaels Avenue must swing way out to avoid the cones, sometimes nearly hitting oncoming cars.

"It's just one of those things that, if you're not paying attention, they will hit you," said Lisa Harris, who takes her children to school that way.

It looks like a small area, where the water department cut into the asphalt to fix a valve about three months ago, but it's in the travel lane.

After the hole was filled back in with dirt, the road was never repaved and the cones were left there.

After contacting several offices for help including the water department, the South Carolina Department of Transportation and the city of Great Falls -- for help and not getting answers, Knight started making up signs and placing them on the corner of St. Michaels Avenue and Highway 99 to draw attention to the problem.

One sign reads, “Dominos could fix it," referring to a TV commercial in which the pizza company offers to fill potholes its drivers hit while delivering pizza.

Knight made another sign, saying "Make Great Falls Great Again by fixing this hole."

"I don't like to be very confrontational, but it's just a way to make light of a serious situation," Knight said.

Every time someone removes one his signs, he puts another in its place, leading to a sign that reads, “You can take my sign, but you can't fix this hole."

When Channel 9 contacted the Chester Metropolitan District, which provides water for most of the county. the director there said it was an oversight and it was their mistake.

He said that, as long as it's not raining, they'll have a crew out Monday to pick up the cones and repave the road.

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