Crews repair sinkhole, reopen Wire Road in Dorchester Co.

DORCHESTER COUNTY, SC (WCSC) - A Dorchester County road has been reopened after South Carolina Department of Transportation crews completed repairs on a sinkhole Wednesday.

SCDOT Engineer David Pilch said Wire Road was reopened to traffic Wednesday morning after being blocked for two days.

Pilch said crews had to remove the entire crossline, which is the pipe that runs perpendicular under the road. The sinkhole was then filled in.

The sinkhole was initially reported by South Carolina Highway Patrol last Sunday evening.

Pilch said his crews arrived Monday morning to find the sinkhole was five feet wide and several feet deep. Those measurements changed early in the afternoon when the sinkhole grew to 10 feet deep and seven feet wide.

"In this case what happened was there was such a large amount of water rushing through the pipe, the pipe separated at the joints and it created suction," said Pilch. "And it started pulling the shoulder in and pavement away from this area causing the hole."

Pilch says rain is the culprit and it's weakening pipes and older roadways across the state.

Wire Road is located about half a mile from the Orangeburg County line in Reevesville.