The company whose crew left two lanes of Interstate 26 closed into a weekday morning rush has apologized, three weeks after the S.C. Department of Transportation said it had fired the firm.
Safety Compliance Solutions LLC confirmed its role in a statement from owner John Atkins after ABC News 4 identified the company through a Freedom of Information Act request, the station reported Oct. 27.
“Our crew did not clear the lanes on time, and the closure extended into the morning commute,” Atkins said. “We sincerely apologize to the Lowcountry drivers whose mornings were disrupted, many of whom are our own neighbors, friends, and families.”
SCDOT crews patched a bridge deck near mile marker 213 overnight Sept. 28 into Sept. 29, and a contractor was hired to set up the work zone and handle traffic control, Transportation Secretary Justin Powell wrote in an Oct. 6 letter to the Berkeley, Charleston and Dorchester County legislative delegations, according to ABC News 4.
Removal of the equipment should have started around 4 a.m., but the contractor did not respond until about 7 a.m., Powell wrote. The lanes had been expected to reopen by 4:30 a.m., but the equipment was not fully removed from the two eastbound lanes until 7:45 a.m., and the drive from Summerville to downtown Charleston stretched to nearly three hours, the station reported.
Powell called the incident “unacceptable.” His letter said the contractor had been notified of termination for failure to perform and that other contractors would handle traffic control for the project as needed. SCDOT also said it took corrective action involving employees who failed to properly address or escalate the delay, and it now requires work-zone contractors to keep multiple staff members on site throughout a maintenance project.
The records include a $2,500 invoice from Safety Compliance Solutions for the overnight closure, listing hours of 11 p.m. to 4:30 a.m. They do not show whether SCDOT paid it or assessed any penalties, ABC News 4 reported.
Atkins said the company conducted an internal review and “took appropriate personnel action consistent with our standards.” His statement did not address the termination or whether the company still does other work for SCDOT.
