GREENVILLE, S.C. (WSPA) — The South Carolina Department of Transportation (SCDOT) plans to renovate a three-mile stretch of Wade Hampton Boulevard to improve safety for drivers and pedestrians.
According to SCDOT, 1,490 crashes occurred on the road between Karen Drive to East Lee Road between 2014 and 2018. 10 of those crashes were fatal.
To reduce crashes, SCDOT plans to add concrete medians in some areas to stop drivers from crossing several lanes of traffic to make left turns.
“A lot of times, we find that the most serious and fatal crashes are going to be left turn crashes,” Shawn Salley, SCDOT’s program manager explained. “The way to alleviate that is to try to reduce left turn movement onto major highways, and you want to encourage people to make movements at signals.”
“I think they (SCDOT) have some legitimate recommendations here because there are too many crashes,” Joe Farmer, who lives near Wade Hampton Boulevard, said. “We do have a lot of curb cuts. Even though this is going to be frustrating to some of us that frequent these businesses, it does make practical sense to make some of these adjustments.”
SCDOT also plans to make crosswalks more visible and add more sidewalks.
“We also noticed that there were a lot of areas of foot traffic in this corridor where they didn’t have sidewalks,” Salley said. “Part of this project is that we’re going to have connectivity of sidewalks from the beginning of this project to the end.”
Construction is expected to begin in Fall 2024. It will take about a year to complete.
SCDOT is accepting feedback about its project until September 15. To submit your comments, click here.
