Four Downtown Charleston roads being considered for safety improvements

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCBD) – Safety improvements for bikers and pedestrians could soon be coming to four main roads in Downtown Charleston.

Portions of King, Calhoun, St. Philip and Meeting Streets have been identified by the South Carolina Department of Transportation as high crash locations. Between the four areas, SCDOT said there have been more than 3,000 crashes from January 2015 to June 2023.

Officials reported 152 crashes involving pedestrians during that time, and 94 involving bikes.

“So, the project scope includes, there is engineering solutions to reduce the number of those pedestrian and bicycle crashes,” said Kaylon Meetze with SCDOT during Tuesday’s Charleston City Council meeting.

SCDOT came up with proposed solutions based on road safety audits conducted in 2018, using federal funding. City leaders reviewed the plan and suggested some changes.

“We looked at it, we thought there were some improvements that could be made, particularly on the bicycling side of things on St. Philip Street,” said Charleston City Councilman Mike Seekings, who represents District Eight.

On Tuesday, Meetze presented an updated proposal for the projects. Possible changes in the works include improvements to crosswalks, a two-way bike track on a portion of St. Philip Street and transitioning the two lanes on lower King Street to one, wider lane.

Councilman Seekings said a proposed one-way bicycle lane on King Street was removed from the original draft.

“We took one look at that, and the way it was configured, and there was no way that was going to be safe for anybody. It was a one-way, south bike lane with no access from the north, with no exit on the south,” Seekings told News 2.

The Executive Director of the nonprofit Charleston Moves said she wanted to see another public input meeting on the new changes to the plans.

“So, if that is off the table, a bike lane entirely, then the discussion needs to be had and it needs to be a public discussion. Not only with constituents who are identified as important to council members but everybody,” said Katie Zimmerman.

A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the City of Charleston and SCDOT was approved during the Traffic and Transportation meeting Tuesday. However, when the plan came before city council a few hours later, they deferred it to next month’s Traffic and Transportation meeting.

Council also voted to include a one-hour public comment section in that upcoming meeting.