Botanical Parkway was one of the most-damaged roads in West Columbia, by the October floods.

It will be the most expensive to repair, and the most-impassable for a while.
“We expect it to be in the next calendar year,” said Joey Derby, Lexington County Engineer, of the repair schedule for the road.
The cost for the repair for the road that leads to the Lexington County entrance of Riverbanks Zoo’s Botanical Garden, will be in the $1 million range. The county will get Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) funds to help pay the cost.

Botanical Parkway is a Lexington County-owned road.
The road collapsed in 15 inches of rain, after a culvert under it gave way to raging water.
Jess Cruser, who lives 500 yards from the creek where the culvert was, said she heard a loud crashing noise on the morning of Oct. 4, a Sunday.
While the county is fixing the thoroughfare, it did not build it.
Derby said the road and the culvert were installed by developers.

He said the foundation failed under the culvert and the site will have to be completely re-engineered so it will be more substantial, should a flood threaten it again.
“The engineering work will take six months,” Derby said..”We’ll have to rebuild it from the bottom up.”
Derby said constructing the project could take another six months.
Construction costs, Derby said, would be in the $600,000-to-$700,00 range. Associated costs could be around $200,000. Derby said that it is the most-expensive repair, by far.
In October, The S.C. National Guard cleaned the site of debris to aid flow. The Guard also put rocks on the bank for stabilization.
Botanical Parkway is off of Sunset Boulevard. Riverbanks Zoo and the Botanical Garden draw one million visitors a year.