Traffic solutions may neglect residents
(Staff photo) Will Letchworth of Wilbur Smith & Associates explains details of the proposed solutions for Folly Beach’s traffic problems while also trying to relieve qualms from residents that the plan focuses too heavily on tourists.
Staff report
The path to enter Folly Beach could look significantly different in the future if current proposals designed to address heavy summer traffic are put into affect. Since this past spring, the City has been working with the engineering/planning company Wilbur Smith & Associates to develop short and long-term strategies for the city’s various traffic problems. On September 24 they presented what is expected to be their final proposal at a public meeting. Among the more significant aspects of the plan are two round-a-bouts on Center Street at the Ashley and Indian intersections. The round-a-bouts are designed to slow traffic while also keeping it moving continuously. It would make it much easier for residents trying to leave the island from the west side. The one at Ashley will replace the stop light which many people argue only works as a really boring light show. They also make pedestrian crossing easier as traffic only flows in one direction. While the plan provides many potential improvements for safety and traffic flow on Center Street, some residents believe the plan ignores the needs and concerns of year-round residents who live away from the business district.
Local resident and business owner Mike Riffert points out that the idea to compose a traffic plan began because of drivers excessively speeding down Ashley and Cooper Avenues; both long straight roads with no stop signs. However, he feels the proposed plan completely neglects these issues that still concern many residents. Fellow resident Lauren Dean agrees that there needs to be more of an emphasis on traffic issues that continue to impact residents after the summer bustle has subsided.
“When is this going to start being about the people who live here instead of the tourists?” Dean asks. For her, Arctic Avenue, which is a two-lane, one way road, was a major concern. The plan suggests using one of the lanes for a bike and pedestrian pathway, reducing the traffic lane to only one. “We absolutely need two lanes of traffic on Arctic,” Dean argued. She believes this neglect is from an ill-advised consensus that Arctic is relatively unpopulated throughout the off-season. An unidentified husband and wife team confronted Will Letchworth, the consultant for Wilbur Smith & Associates, regarding the thinning of Arctic Avenue. They argued that their boat which is 12 feet wide would barely be able to fit on Arctic if reduced to one lane, which would also be 12 feet wide. Letchworth argued that most travel lanes that they drive their boat on throughout the State, except for highways, are 12 feet wide. However, he pointed out that some space could be taken from the bike or pedestrian lanes to make the travel lane a little wider if need be.
Regardless of the plan’s ability to move a boat down Arctic, it still does not address the issue of speeding on side streets that many residents have been concerned about. It is a mysterious trend in traffic mitigation that Riffert can not comprehend.
“We have the safest marsh in the United States,” he joked, suggesting that Public Safety officers spend a lot of time catching speeders on Folly Road at the expense of residents who still see cars flying down the City’s side streets. However, he did not laugh when thinking about his daughter, or someone else’s child, being struck by one of these unchecked drivers. A four-way stop at the 2nd, 4th, and 8th Street intersections on Cooper and Ashley would help to address this problem, he says.
Council member Dave Stormer points out that the plan that was presented at the September 24 meeting is by no means a final product. He says the City will still take comments and criticism from residents and changes can still be made. He and fellow Council member Charlie McCarty both like the concept of the round-a-bouts. While their construction is a costly undertaking, McCarty says that the consultants have instilled a confidence that there is enough grant money out there to make the plan feasible.
Other aspects of the plan include wider sidewalks in the business district, pedestrian crossings at every intersection on Center Street, lowering the speed limit, installing a median on Center Street and increasing visibility at intersections that are impeded by vegetation among several other ideas.
Neither the City Council nor Mayor responded to e-mails regarding the concern that the traffic plan neglects residents by our publication deadline. However, at the meeting Council member Charlie McCarty says the next step in the process is for the City Council to consider the various aspects of the plan.
