The boil advisory at Lake Waccamaw has been lifted.
Town officials said tests returned Wednesday showed no contaminants in samples of the town water supply. The advisory was originally issued due to construction along Chaunceytown Road at U.S. 74. The water line in that area had to be cut while work was taking place on the new interchange at the intrastate highway.
The relief may be shortlived, however: Town Clerk Meredith Parker said the order may be reissued Monday, depending on the progress on the interchange.
“Hopefully DOT will not run into any more delays,” Parker said in an email.
Jason Johnson of the Department of Transportation said work will likely be completed March 20, although it could end sooner.
“We’ve been trying to minimize the inconvenience to the town’s water customers,” he said.
Planned outages for the water system have taken place between 10 p.m. and 4 a.m. Heavy rains of last week and other delays pushed back the end date for the project by two days, to March 18. One more outage is likely, Johnson said.
The interchange will eventually replace the Old Lake Road/Firetower Road crossing as well as the Chaunceytown Road intersection. Both intersections were at-grade, and have been the scene of multiple vehicle crashes through the years.
The interchange at Old Lake will be replaced with an overpass that does not access the four-lane highway, DOT said in an press release. To improve access to Old Lake Road and the East Columbus High School campus, Georgia Road will be expanded and improved between Old Lake and Chaunceytown.
The Chaunceytown interchange will feature an overpass and roundabouts on both sides of U.S. 74.
The entire project is expected to be completed in 2025. The $44 million project is part of an overall improvement plan to bring U.S. 74 up to Interstate highway standards.
