Safety improvements coming to Black Tom Road in Berkeley County

BERKELEY COUNTY, S.C. (WCBD) – Some changes are coming to an often dangerous intersection in Berkeley County.

A new design that should serve as a temporary solution is set to open within the next week along Black Tom Road and Black Tom Extension.

Berkeley County Supervisor Johnny Cribb said the extension was a top priority for the county when it comes to construction projects, mainly because of the intersection’s dangerous nature.

Black Tom Road yields to Black Tom Extension. Supervisor Cribb said that back before Cane Bay opened, the design made sense – but now there are so many cars traveling down Black Tom Road, there have been many accidents at the intersection.

Berkeley County crews are working on a change to the intersection that will be in place soon.

“The temporary measure will be- it will come to a T into Black Tom Road, and that traffic will be forced to stop. The normal flow of traffic will now become Black Tom Road,” explained Cribb.

The work being done right now is a temporary fix; however, Cribb said the permanent fix will be similar.

“We feel like when the improved intersection goes in, the design of that is going to look very similar to the temporary intersection. So, I don’t think we’ll be going through another significant change a year and a half from now to where there’s this brand new intersection- it looks nothing like the new traffic pattern that’s been driven for the past 12 to 18 months.”

We do not have the exact date that they’re going to be able to make the changes go into effect. Supervisor Cribb said there will be DOT signs at all directions making sure the traffic knows about the changes 24 hours a day.