Orangeburg County, SC Sidewalk & Pedestrian Rules: Encroachment Permits (2026)

Section 28-71 requires anyone, individual, corporation, contractor or agent, who wants to install utility lines, excavate, tunnel or bore in or across a county road, or within three feet of a roadbed, or alter drainage in county-maintained ditches, to file a written application with the public services department describing the location, purpose and depth of the work, plus a drawing. 00, to guarantee the road is restored to its prior condition. The applicant also indemnifies the county against injury or property-damage claims tied to the work.

The permit carries detailed technical conditions: no excavation may come closer than three feet to the edge of a roadbed unless the permit specifically allows it; backfill must be tamped in layers no thicker than six inches or puddled and maintained until it settles; pipes crossing the highway must run at roughly a right angle to the centerline and at least three feet below the surface, while lines running parallel to the highway must sit at least three feet beyond the road surface and at least three feet deep.

All boring must be dry, and no line may run through an existing drainage culvert. An open excavation cannot sit longer than five days. Ordinary utility service connections are exempt from most of these technical conditions, though a line running parallel to the road for 33 feet still needs the full permit. As of March 8, 2022, once flowable-fill backfill is installed, the property owner or contractor must have the roads and bridges supervisor or the public services division director inspect it before asphalt paving goes down, and the finished work carries a one-year workmanship warranty from acceptance.