Lexington County had 606 miles of unpaved roads as of 2023, with 214 miles across 315 roads being considered for paving. The county could then put $1 million a year toward paving, an amount estimated to cover less than a mile, while paving roads on the petition list was estimated to cost about $271 million. Since 2015, the county had paved roughly 38 miles of unpaved roads, according to the Lexington County Chronicle.
The Chronicle reported that the county ranks petitioned roads by factors including upkeep costs, the number of homes served, daily traffic, school-bus use and time on the list. A later Public Works proposal called for raising the dirt-road paving allocation in the County Transportation Committee plan from $1 million to $2.5 million, with several projects already in design expected to proceed over the next two to three years, according to Citizen Portal.
County work and reporting systems
Sweet Pea Lane is not listed under that name on Lexington County’s approved dirt-road paving priority list, WIS News 10 reported. The station also reported that the county installed storm drainage and added rock along about 2,000 feet of the road in 2023.
County figures reported by WIS News 10 show that crews graded the full length of Sweet Pea Lane 48 times over three years and that Public Works received 36 service requests, averaging about 10 per year. The county describes the lane’s surface as dirt and gravel. WIS reported that residents say heavy rain washes away grading work.
Public Works had graded the road the month before WIS’s report, the station said. The county anticipates routine maintenance about every six weeks and checks unpaved roads for emergency repairs after heavy rain, according to WIS.
WIS reported that the county was developing an online system for road concerns and did not then have one available. But a 2018 announcement on the Town of Pine Ridge website said the county had created an online portal for requests about county-maintained roads. The accounts do not explain the discrepancy.
Safety concerns and crash records
Jimmy Chavis, who told WIS he has owned property along Sweet Pea Lane for more than 20 years, described the road as difficult to navigate, especially in rain. He said narrow stretches can leave vehicles stuck when they pull over, according to the station. WIS also reported that Chavis had made repeated requests to the county and was told during follow-up visits that the requests were not in its system; the county’s response did not explain what happened to them.
Department of Public Safety records cited by WIS show nine collisions on Sweet Pea Lane over the past 10 years, with three people injured. Two crashes were reported on wet roads, and the station noted that the previous year’s figures were preliminary.
