Resolution seeks Honorable Dorothy S. Riley Highway in Allendale County

A House resolution filed April 23 would ask the state Department of Transportation to rename U.S. Highway 278 East from Feed Lot Road to the town limit of Fairfax in Allendale County the Honorable Dorothy S. Riley Highway. The proposal is not a finished signage project. It would still have to move through the legislative process, and then DOT would have to act before drivers see new roadside markers.

Lawmakers chose Riley because her name still carries weight in Fairfax and across the county. The resolution describes her as a lifelong public servant whose work reached from the courthouse to town hall to regional policy meetings. For more than 30 years, Riley served as the administrative assistant and supervisor in the county magistrates office, where she helped manage daily court operations and supported the fairness and efficiency of the local judicial process.

Her public service later shifted from the courthouse to municipal government. The resolution says Riley served 15 years on the Fairfax Town Council before becoming mayor of Fairfax. In those roles, she was credited with listening to residents, working through community concerns and making balanced decisions in the town’s best interest. That local record is part of why the memorial naming lands now, as a formal state recognition of a figure whose influence was built over decades of steady, visible work.

Riley’s reach extended beyond Fairfax. The resolution notes that she spent eight years on the Lower Savannah Council of Governments, including one year as chair, where she advocated for accessible, high-quality healthcare and support for underserved populations in the six-county region that includes Allendale. That broader regional service places the highway proposal in a larger civic context, linking a local roadway to a public career that touched county institutions and policy discussions well beyond town limits.

If the measure advances and DOT carries it out, the new name would place Riley on a stretch of highway that serves Fairfax and nearby travelers every day. For Allendale County, the proposal would turn a familiar roadway into a permanent marker of public service, tying the courthouse, town government and regional advocacy to one visible sign along U.S. 278 East.