Emilio Tapia, who witnessed the Crowe Creek Road (Highway 133) bridge collapse before his eyes in the early afternoon of Monday, July 21, 2025, told The Pickens County Chronicle that a concrete truck had driven over the bridge, causing a loud crack and pop, and then a Duke Power truck, following the cement truck, barely made it over the bridge. “They got real lucky, that they made it over,” he said. “They got very lucky.

“There was a line of traffic getting ready to cross it, from both ways,” Tapia said. “There was a line of traffic behind me, and a line of traffic on the other side of the bridge, and probably four more concrete trucks ready to pass over right before it collapsed. They were all getting ready to come over. I was coming from the opposite direction of them, and I was getting ready to go over it, too.”

Tapia said that it would have been a bad situation if a vehicle had fallen. “That would have been really bad. That was a big drop, and there was a lot of concrete, a lot of rebar, wood, everything. Who knows what could have happened if a car would have gone down in there.”

The bridge had been inspected in April of this year and had been rated as fair.

The South Carolina Department of Transportation (SCDOT) announced shortly before 4 p.m. on Monday that SCDOT had closed the bridge after having been alerted by law enforcement about the severe damage to the bridge. SCDOT further stated that crews would be working on a detour and that “SCDOT will begin an immediate assessment to determine the extent of the damage and a plan to replace the bridge.”

SCDOT issued the following update at 8:16 p.m. on Monday: “SCDOT is still working to learn more about what caused the damage to the bridge on Crowe Creek Road in Pickens County. Built in 1968, the bridge was already scheduled for a replacement due to its age and design. While it rated fair during the last inspection in the spring of this year, the bridge was load restricted, prohibiting heavy trucks and vehicles from crossing. SCDOT crews are working now to assess the extent of the damage and begin an expedited plan to replace the bridge. At this time, we anticipate this closure will be in place for months while construction work gets underway. We ask drivers to avoid the area and use alternate routes.”