Plan to Improve Busy West Ashley Intersection Unveiled

Every day approximately 92,000 cars roll through the intersection of Ashley River Road and Sam Rittenberg Boulevard.

It's one of the busiest intersections in West Ashley, and has been choke point, bringing rush hour traffic to a near standstill for years. But Charleston County traffic engineers unveiled a plan to upgrade and improve the intersection Thursday at a public meeting held at the Jewish Community Center.

"We've got the one proposal for improvements and we're looking for feedback," Charleston County Transportation Sales Tax Program Project Manager Richard Turner said.

The plan calls for widening both streets to accommodate dual left turn lanes from Ashley River Road onto Sam Rittenberg Boulevard in both directions, extending both right-turn and left-turn lanes along Sam Rittenberg Boulevard, widening the outer lanes along Ashley River Road and converting them to dual use for cars and bicycles, adding a sidewalk and planting strip to Sam Rittenberg Boulevard, adding pedestrian crossing signals, and modifications to some of the driveway access points along both streets.

"This will all be night time work," Turner said.

The improvements are part of the Charleston County Roadwise program, funded through the half-cent Transportation Sales Tax voters approved in 2004. In 2007 the County Council set aside funding for a traffic study on the intersection, another round of funding covered preliminary plans, and funding for right-of-way acquisition needed for the project has been approved this fiscal year, Turner said.

As many as 22 properties could be impacted by right-of-way issues associated with the improvements, engineers said as much as 15 feet of right-of-way could be needed along some properties.

The construction zone will stretch from Wallace School Road almost to Wappoo Road along Ashley River Road, and from Wappoo Road to approximately 300 feet past the intersection on Sam Rittenberg Boulevard. The county will also be adjusting traffic light timing at the intersection and coordinating it with the lights at Wallace School Road and Wappoo Road.

The county expects to begin construction in January 2014, with completion scheduled for January 2015. The overall cost of the improvements is estimated at $6 million, Turner said.

Public comments and feedback on the plan will be accepted through Nov. 2. Comments can be submitted online, or mailed to the Charleston County Roadwise office at 4045 Bridge View Drive, Suite C204, North Charleston, SC 29405.

While everyone who attended the meeting could agree that something needed to be done with the intersection, not everyone was optimistic that this plan would solve the problems.

"I think it's a Band-Aid that won't provide much relief," Wayne Hansel said. "There's just too much traffic and just traffic lights won't fix it."

One woman suggested routing an new road from the intersection of Ashley River and Wappoo roads, through Ashley Oaks Plaza, and on to Jenkins Road, before dumping driver onto Sam Rittenberg next to the Applebee's, in order to funnel Citadel Mall-bound traffic from southbound Ashley River Road around the Sam Rittenberg Boulevard intersection.

Larry Carter Center, a candidate for S.C. House District 114 and a West Ashley resident shared Hansel's opinion that the proposed improvements won't be able to do much on their own. He said a more robust public transportation system that encourages people to drive less is the only possible solution to the ever-growing traffic problems.

"They can't ignore the fact that they need to do something, but there needs to be inter-agency cooperation," Center said.

He added that he worried about whether county planners have included benches for CARTA stops in the plan, and said better coordination between the City of Charleston, the county and CARTA would go a long way towards reducing traffic problems.