Charleston County Press Release
🚷 Camp Rd & Ft Johnson Rd traffic circle to open on Aug 10th
Charleston County sent out a press release that the new traffic pattern will be open to vehicles starting on Monday ahead of the school year starting. And while the intersection will be open for vehicles, the sidewalks will still be closed while construction is finishing up and will be closed for pedestrians.

Town of Mount Pleasant · Special Town Council Meeting
🏙️ Community group urges amphitheater, YMCA, and green space for town-owned Faison Road parcel
Friends of Faison, a grassroots group from Riverside and Carolina Park, presented survey results from 31 residents showing overwhelming preference for community-oriented development — amphitheater, green space, restaurants, and a YMCA-style recreation center — over commercial or industrial uses on the 38-acre town-owned parcel purchased in 2021 for $6.5 million. Council members engaged in substantive discussion about fiscal responsibility (property is off the tax rolls), prior plan failures, the lack of family amenities in Mount Pleasant, and the appropriateness of a public-private partnership model. The mayor suggested the item return to the Economic Development Committee, and the group was encouraged to continue community outreach in advance of a broader survey.

City of Charleston · History Commission
🏛️ Large SC250 plaque at St. Phillips Church installed without History Commission sign-off
A commemorative SC250 plaque was fabricated and relocated from St. Phillips Church's private cemetery to the public right-of-way on Church Street without ever receiving History Commission review, due to a gap in the city's permitting process. Staff described the oversight and proposed adding checkboxes to both the city permitting system and the DRC application to prevent recurrence. The commission directed that St. Phillips be invited to appear at the next meeting and encouraged commissioners to view the sign in person beforehand.

City of Charleston · Design Review Board
🏙️ James Island mixed-use mini golf project wins partial conceptual approval, garage deferred
The board granted conceptual approval for the main multi-purpose retail and food-and-beverage building at 1614 Grimble Road at Folly Road, part of the Cooper James PUD, but deferred the parking garage and office building for complete restudy. The board praised the main building's inventive contemporary take on Lowcountry motifs but found the garage-office portion too massive, poorly integrated, and insufficiently sensitive given its proximity of 20-30 feet to neighboring single-family homes. Staff comments on plan consistency, the mini golf landscape, a retaining wall along Grimble Road, and tiki hut details were retained, while overly prescriptive architectural instructions were removed to allow the design team to determine the appropriate solution.

City of Charleston · Technical Review Committee
🌳 Lowline Phase 1 multi-use path designated revised return pending fire marshal bollard and pole-numbering confirmation
The city's priority Lowline Phase 1 multi-use path project received paperwork-level comments from all departments except the fire marshal's office, which flagged questions about removable bollard locking mechanisms and light pole numbering for emergency services. The engineer indicated both issues are resolved in the plans and will contact the fire chief directly after the meeting to confirm; if the chief agrees, Andrew Dodson will work with Alicia Lewis to convert the result from revised return to paperwork. Final TRC approval also remains contingent on final DRC approval through the Parks Department.

City of Charleston · Technical Review Committee
🏗️ Maybank Landing preliminary plat and road construction documents both clear with paperwork-only comments
Both the preliminary plat (Item 2) and road construction documents (Item 3) for Maybank Landing at 3124 Maybank Highway received no substantive design comments, with only paperwork-level revisions required across all departments. The applicant may combine both resubmittals in a single application with no fee, triggering a 17-day review after Alicia Lewis confirms completeness. Eric noted the project's importance for expanding the road network on Johns Island via a tie-in to Reva Ridge Drive.

City of Charleston · Technical Review Committee
🏗️ Massive 982-lot Cainhoy Peninsula neighborhood plan receives revised return on both plat and road documents
Both the preliminary plat and road construction documents for the Point Hope Long Range Neighborhood Plan South on the Cainhoy Peninsula — encompassing approximately 14.86 miles of road and 982 lots on Cainhoy Land and Timber property — were sent back as revised returns. Major stormwater issues include the city's prohibition of check valves, water quality channel design concerns, and potential off-site stage increases near adjacent schools; fire department flagged extensive single-means-of-access areas requiring coordinated resolution and a forthcoming informational bulletin. The applicant estimated approximately two months before resubmittal given the volume of design revisions needed across stormwater, ADA T-intersection crossings, fire access easements, tree/streetlight plans, and GIS road naming.

This week I talked with James Wallace, one of the City of Charleston’s Transportation Project Managers, at the Peninsula Plan open house. Between my conversation with him and the display boards around the room, I got A LOT of information… so buckle up (for the article AND while driving, so you can be safe!).

Nine percent of Charleston's road network is responsible for 62% of all fatal and serious injury crashes in the city.

That figure comes from the High-Injury Network analysis at the center of the City of Charleston's Safety Action Plan — a federally funded effort to identify the most dangerous corridors in the city and propose targeted fixes. The full plan is available on the City of Charleston website, and the city submitted an application for implementation funding in June 2026.

The city secured a U.S. Department of Transportation grant in winter 2024 to develop the Safety Action Plan. Consultant Kimley-Horn conducted the analysis, reviewing more than 37,000 crashes that occurred within city limits over a five-year period. The process moved through a project kickoff, data collection, a citywide safety summit, public engagement, crash analysis, and draft recommendations — with a second public meeting and final plan adoption still ahead.

Over the five-year study period, Kimley-Horn recorded 37,333 total crashes in Charleston. Of those:

In total, 22.6% of all crashes resulted in injury or death.

Annual crash totals, with the exception of 2020 — which the analysis attributes to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on traffic volumes — remained nearly flat from 2018 through 2023, ranging from roughly 6,400 to 6,660 crashes per year. The number of crashes resulting in injury or fatality, however, declined steadily over that same period.

Among the categories driving fatal and serious injury crashes: intersections accounted for 29%, speeding for 27%, young drivers for 26%, roadway departures for 21%, and pedestrian-involved crashes for 22%.

Approximately one in five crashes resulting in fatalities or serious injuries involved a vehicle leaving the roadway. High-risk behaviors — distracted driving, impaired driving, speeding, and driving while unrestrained — collectively accounted for 65% of all fatal and serious injury crashes between 2018 and 2023.

Bicyclists and pedestrians made up just 4% of all crashes studied. They accounted for 47% of all fatal and serious injury crashes.

The analysis found that crashes involving vulnerable road users are up to 20 times more likely to result in a fatality or serious injury than crashes between two motor vehicles. Crashes involving pedestrians had a 20% likelihood of resulting in a fatal or serious injury; motorcycles, 18%; bicycles, 9%.

The display boards presented at the public meeting noted that Charleston's metropolitan area ranks ninth on Smart Growth America's list of the Most Dangerous Metropolitan Areas for Pedestrians.

Approximately 30% of all fatal and serious injury crashes in the city involve a pedestrian or cyclist. Of those, roughly 30% occur at intersections.

To prioritize resources, Kimley-Horn divided Charleston's approximately 500-mile roadway system into half-mile segments and ranked them using the five-year crash data. The resulting High-Injury Network — the top-ranked segments — represents 9% of the city's overall road network while accounting for 62% of all fatal and serious injury crashes recorded during the study period.

The three corridors with the highest number of High-Injury Network segments are:

The analysis then filtered the full High-Injury Network through a series of layers — removing locations already covered by existing city, county, or DOT studies and projects, as well as recent road safety audit sites — to arrive at the priority locations that form the basis of the 11 proposed projects.

Priority locations by area:

Public meetings and pop-up events held in spring 2025 gathered resident feedback on locations residents considered unsafe. The Round 1 engagement results, displayed at the meeting, showed the locations receiving the most comments included Calhoun Street, SC 700/Maybank Highway, King Street, SC 61/Ashley River Road, SC 171/Folly Road, US 17/Savannah Highway, Meeting Street, Riverland Drive, and East Bay Street, among others. Presenters at the meeting also cited College Street and Maybank Highway as the most frequently cited areas.

Three themes dominated the feedback:

Using the crash data, the High-Injury Network analysis, and the public engagement input, the city applied in June 2026 for implementation funding through a federal Safe Streets 4 All grant. The application requests $4 million in federal funds, with a $1 million city match, for a total project budget of $5 million.

The application covers 11 projects across four areas of the city. Presenters described the emphasis as high-return, low-cost countermeasures designed to avoid lengthy construction timelines.

Peninsula (6 projects)

West Ashley (1 project)

James Island (1 project)

Johns Island (3 projects)

There were a few other roads/intersections on the map which I asked about and was told that these are the main projects that fall under the city’s scope of work, and that others are on the Transportation Sales Tax list as County Road projects.

Another area I brought up that was missing was the Clements Ferry corridor, and through discussion, I learned that as of the last study, there wasn’t as much crash & traffic data as the other areas since it is such a newer corridor for traffic, but could be looked at in future studies

The countermeasures proposed across the 11 projects target the crash patterns the data identified most clearly.

Signal and intersection upgrades: Nearly 30% of all fatal and serious injury crashes in Charleston occurred at intersections between 2018 and 2023, with approximately two-thirds at signalized intersections. The display boards cited research indicating that signal timing and phasing modifications, retroreflective backplates, and flashing yellow arrows can reduce crashes by 15% or more at signalized intersections.

Access management: Nearly 40% of fatal and serious injury crashes occurred on multilane undivided roadways. The boards cited research showing access management strategies — including raised medians and driveway density reduction — can reduce fatal and serious injury crashes by 25% or more on urban and suburban arterial roads.

Pedestrian crossings: Rectangular rapid flashing beacons (RRFBs) at uncontrolled crossings and pedestrian hybrid beacons (PHBs) at signalized crossings can reduce non-motorist crash frequency by more than 50% at intersections, according to the display boards. Crosswalk visibility enhancements can reduce non-motorist crashes by up to 42%.

Roadway departure countermeasures: Warning signage upgrades, rumble strips, and wider shoulders can reduce the frequency of fatal and serious injury crashes by up to 64%, per the cited research.

A grant award decision is expected by the end of 2026. If funded, the city projects that implementation could begin in 2028 following design. The full Safety Action Plan, including the crash analysis, High-Injury Network maps, and complete project list, is available on the City of Charleston's website.

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