Cane Bay Boulevard residents raise concerns about potholes, damaged vehicles

BERKELEY COUNTY, S.C. (WCSC) - Residents of one Berkeley County neighborhood say potholes in the area frequently keep popping up and they’re afraid it could lead to future tire issues.

Some Cane Bay Boulevard residents are raising concerns about this problem and even calling out representatives from their own district. Joseph Ferreri has lived in the neighborhood for over a year and says the patchy road conditions are a big problem.

“They never do fix it the right way,” Ferreri says. “That’s all they do is throw patch over patch.”

Carlos Cordero is the owner of Kustom Shop automotive business in Berkeley County. Cordero says he sees cars damaged by potholes in his shop on a daily basis. Cordero has been in business for 31 years on Red Bank Road in Goose Creek and mainly specializes in oversized tires. He says he knows exactly when someone’s tire has hit a pothole.

Whether it’s a luxury car, compact, SUV or even a motorcycle, there is a small gap created in the tire that eventually leads to air leaking out. If a driver continues driving with low air, it pinches the tire and causes a blowout. The cost of the repair can total close to $500 per wheel, not including a tow just to get it to the shop.

“I noticed also there’s forms you can fill out to try and collect money from, say, SCDOT,” Cordero says. “And customers that have done that they always complain of the huge runaround that they get from that and I believe, in my opinion, that the reason for the runaround is that people can just drop it.”

Cordero says it’s nearly impossible to hit a pothole with just one tire and there are only five reasons a tire would go flat from a pothole: a crack, bend, coercion, something inside of it or bad balancing.

Ferreri is calling for a statement from local leaders to the people of Cane Bay. Cordero says a bent wheel can cost you anywhere between $90 and $100 to fix and a cracked wheel, which is most common, can cost anywhere between $125 and $150 or more. He says some wheels cannot be repaired and need to be replaced, which could result in around $290-$600 for just one wheel.

Cordero says he urges his customers to pay attention because a small pothole today can be a large one by tomorrow and can increase in size rapidly.

The Berkeley County Council member who represents that district has not yet responded to a request for comment.