A new turn lane mysteriously appeared on SC road. It took the town a week to notice
Many residents did not immediately notice when a lane on a South Carolina road changed into a turn-only lane.
But there’s a good reason the Town of Batesburg-Leesville took time to acknowledge that the traffic pattern had changed at the intersection of Pine Street and Highway 23 — it was made illegally.
The “change was not designed or approved by” the South Carolina Department of Transportation, or SCDOT, according to a Town of Batesburg-Leesville Facebook post.
Pictures posted by Batesburg-Leesville show one of two northbound lanes on Pine Street was changed to a left-turn-only lane from one where traffic could previously continue north, as well as west.
The left-turn arrow painted on the asphalt was on the road “for at least a couple weeks before anyone noticed,” WLTX reported.
When the town saw, it acknowledged the change with a May 23 Facebook post, saying “The left lane is now a Left Turn ONLY and the Right is the THRU lane.”
Less than 24 hours later, the town posted again, with word from SCDOT that the change should not have been made. It also said SCDOT crews made “changes to restore the previous traffic pattern.”
Rather than removing the left-only arrow, a picture shows the crews added a straight arrow to it, giving drivers the option they previously had on the unmarked road.
The people responsible for painting the left-turn arrow have not been identified. But SCDOT crews said the unapproved arrow looked professional, WLTX reported.
“At this point, we are unable to determine who installed the unapproved traffic markings,” the town said on Facebook. “We apologize for any inconvenience and confusion this has caused.”
“I guess you could call it a mystery,” Batesburg-Leesville Town Manager Ted Luckadoo said, according to WLTX. Luckadoo said the unapproved change caused confusion and he nearly got into a crash driving on the road, the TV station reported.
