Residents of Sandridge, a small majority-Black community in South Carolina, are fighting plans for a new highway that would destroy homes and split their neighbourhood. The proposed Conway Perimeter Road, a four-lane link between two existing highways, is intended to cut travel time to the beach but would demolish at least six homes in Sandridge.
Bobbie Anne Hemingway Jordan, 82, was forced to leave the house where she was born after appraisers offered to buy her land in 2021. The sum she received for her three-bedroom home was only enough to purchase a one-bedroom apartment nearby. 'All the memories I’ve got, all the love, the things that happened on that property – they couldn’t pay me enough for that,' she said.
The Reverend Cedric Blain-Spain, who has campaigned against the road since 2019, said the project disregards the community's legacy. 'They are destroying everything that was given to us by our parents and foreparents, who just wanted to give us a community,' he said. The road would also split Sandridge in two, making travel within the neighbourhood more difficult.
Sandridge was established by Black sharecroppers in the mid-1800s and is home to one of the first Black-owned grocery stores in the state. In 2017, the utility company Dominion Energy used eminent domain to build a gas pipeline through several properties there. Blain-Spain believes this made Sandridge seen as a 'path of least resistance' for further projects.
Critics note that the new road will barely affect largely white, newer developments around Sandridge. Julian Agyeman, a professor of urban planning at Tufts University, said highways have historically been used to divide Black communities. 'Urban planning is the spatial toolkit of racial segregation,' he said.
The South Carolina Department of Transportation said the Federal Highways Office of Civil Rights is investigating a complaint about the project. Horry County did not respond to a request for comment. Residents say they are being displaced to make way for infrastructure that primarily benefits others.
