A Solution to Folly Beach Traffic Problems
By Andrea Weathers
It is only May and the traffic traveling to and from Folly Beach has been a two hour ordeal on Saturdays and an hour on Sundays since April. The cars back up to Camp Road and farther. If a resident works off the island, they cannot get back home in less than one and a half hours. Ask the bride how the traffic affected her wedding last weekend. Or ask the folks leaving the beach who were stuck in their cars on the island while a wreck was cleared on the causeway.
The obvious answer to the traffic woes would be to build another bridge to the island, but there is no access point. That said, the only other solution is to update Folly Road with a four lane highway starting at the bridge at Crosby’s Fish & Shrimp, continue down the causeway, and across the other two bridges to the island of Folly. The two-lane roads are completely outdated to accommodate the volume of traffic that travels to the beach, even on a daily basis. This road has served motorists since the ferryboat was abandoned. There is no other lane available for emergency vehicles to travel around the cars in line. The narrow bike lane is used by motorists (illegally) to go around a car turning left into a subdivision or around a car involved in a crash.
The problem begins when the two lanes of traffic on Folly Road heading to the beach having to merge into one lane to cross the Crosby’s bridge. There is no sign that instructs motorists to alternately merge. The folks in the left lane are claiming their spot in line and usually will not let the right lane of traffic in their lane to establish a courteous merging pattern. The only signage states “Do not pass.” Therefore, a bottleneck forms. Once traffic has merged, they move slowly across the bridge all the way to Folly Island. Once Folly Road becomes Center Street, there are four lanes again to route folks to their destination. Why not have four lanes all the way down Folly Road to the stop light at the beach?
Opportunity exists now to seriously take a look at this remodeling project as two of the three bridges are already on the books to be replaced by SCDOT. Why not use this opportunity to update the old roads to four lanes? Another two-lane bridge could be built next to the bridge by the Sandcastle restaurant. Each bridge would be one way only. As for traffic leaving the island, the new roads would get the cars off the island much faster and maybe eliminate some wrecks resulting from stop and start traffic. Even if the speed limit was 35 from the first bridge to the last, traffic would still flow more smoothly. I realize the nightmare residents will face when proposed construction begins on the two bridges. Let’s pray that it happens in the winter and quickly.
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