Letter to the editor: Everyone who crosses Manning Avenue bridge in Sumter is in danger

The Manning Avenue bridge, located in the City of Sumter, Sumter County, South Carolina, is in such a state of decline and deterioration that it poses substantial burdens upon the shoulders of all who travel across this structure. Part of this bridge lies directly over the CSX Railroad tracks which regularly transport hazardous materials through the City of Sumter and Sumter County, South Carolina. The location of this bridge also is within close proximity to a gas pipeline maintained by Dominion Energy Corp.

The lives of the thousands of low- to moderate-income residents of South Sumter, South Carolina, and of the myriad motorists and host of pedestrians who travel over the Manning Avenue Bridge regularly are in serious jeopardy.

Delay on the replacement of the Manning Avenue bridge is an abridgment and denial of the United States Constitution's 14th Amendment Right to Equal Protection Under the Law.

The vast majority of the people who are substantially burdened and adversely affected by the delay of the replacement of the Manning Avenue bridge are low- to moderate-income African-Americans.

The Family Unit Inc. wishes to emphasize the fact that America is a land of opportunity where there are supposed to be equal access to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, and prays that the low- to moderate-income residents of South Sumter, South Carolina, are granted equal protection under the law, just as all of the other residents of the City of Sumter and Sumter County, South Carolina.

The Family Unit Inc. contends that the lives of everyone who ventures to cross the Manning Avenue Bridge are in imminent danger, in view and consideration of this bridge's current state of crumbling decline and deterioration.

BRENDA C. WILLIAMS, M.D.

The Family Unit Inc., a 501(c)(3), nonprofit, charitable organization

Sumter