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Further road work to accommodate both cars and people
By Kathleen Dayton
Staff Writer
A half-dozen of the most heavily traveled roads and intersections in the Charleston area are getting a makeover to accommodate burgeoning traffic and increasing throngs of pedestrians.
The projects also intend to add some aesthetic oomph, incorporating greenspace and mixed-use design to counter suburban sprawl.
While most of the projects are still in the design phase and won’t break ground for several years, construction began Aug. 15 on improvements to Windermere Boulevard, which runs from Folly Road through South Windermere Shopping Center and into the Byrnes Downs neighborhood.
“It’s not as safe and pedestrian-friendly as it should be,” said Christopher Morgan, the city of Charleston’s interim planning director.
South Windermere Shopping Center, which lies within one of the city’s oldest suburbs, was built in 1954 and is a hub for a number of West Ashley neighborhoods clustered between the city and James Island. In spite of its age, the center remains vibrant and includes an Earth Fare supermarket and a Starbucks. Its narrow thoroughfare is often choked with vehicles, including those backing from parking spaces into oncoming traffic.
“Right now, if you are pulling out from the Earth Fare side you have to pull way out into the traffic to see if it’s even clear to pull out,” said Bill Eubanks, director of urban design for Seamon, Whiteside and Associates and a member of the American Society of Landscape Architects. Eubanks’ firm master-planned improvements to Windermere Boulevard, which will include wider sidewalks, a landscaped median, raised crosswalks and a loop road that will guide traffic from Folly Road to the back of the property and back up to Folly Road.
“I felt like I was kind of personally invested in this because I live in Byrnes Downs,” Eubanks said. “This is a shopping center that I use all the time.”
The loop road will take traffic past a county library branch behind the shopping center and will include a book drop so the library can be used more effectively, Eubanks said.
In addition to the Windermere project, Seamon, Whiteside and Associates has just completed a plan for improving Coleman Boulevard in Mount Pleasant.
Within six months
The Windermere Boulevard project should take four to six months and is being constructed by Landscape Pavers LLC, which completed the Isle of Palms streetscape in 2000. Arthur Schirmer, a partner with the company, said the Windermere project is of medium-to-large scope.
“I think the challenge that we’re having is a coordination challenge with the shop owners to make sure everyone has access, but I think everyone should be able to gain access to their favorite businesses throughout the project,” Schirmer said.
The city is paying the bulk of the $658,176 price tag for Windermere Boulevard, with the county paying $30,000 for the section of the project involving the library. Gould & Co. of Boston, which owns South Windermere Shopping Center, is paying $200,000 toward the project.
“It will make the place a little prettier and it will make it safer,” said Jim Gould, who has owned the shopping center for 20 years. “I’ve become attached to it. I know the tenants. I listen to their stories, how their children are, how their marriages are. You think I’m kidding, but I’m not.”
Yvonne Evans, county council representative for District 8 and what is now referred to as the Ashley Bridge district, said plans for road improvements in the area began 10 years ago.
“The traffic issues in the Ashley Bridge district are pretty severe,” Evans said.
Other sections in the area slated for improvement include the Avondale neighborhood where Magnolia Road meets Savannah Highway. The area is home to a number of locally owned shops and restaurants and will get a new streetscape to encourage slower traffic and diagonal parking to make backing into traffic safer. Sidewalk improvements are planned to make the area more pedestrian-friendly. The city expects the project to be under way within two years.
Another area in the Ashley Bridge district pinpointed for revision is the tangle of intersections involving Folly Road, the Herbert Fielding connector, also known as S.C. Highway 61, Savannah Highway and Wesley Drive.
“The driver is looking for a way out of this and will often drive through neighborhoods. That affects quality of life,” Evans said.
Funded by sales tax
Morgan said improvements to the area around Savannah Highway and the Herbert Fielding connector is one of the bonded projects that will make use of funds created by Charleston County’s half-cent sales tax.
“Right now, there is no direct connection between the (Fielding) connector and Savannah Highway,” Morgan said.
Half-cent sales tax funds are also going to be used for West Ashley Circle, a circular loop around Glenn McConnell Parkway at Bees Ferry Road. Wal-Mart has already built the first quarter of the circle, which is planned to be what Morgan calls a “gathering place.”
“It would be a kind of West Ashley main street,” Morgan said. “Around the circle would be ground-floor retail shops, restaurants, upper-floor offices or residential space, the same type of things you see on a typical main street.”
Kathleen Dayton is a staff writer for the Business Journal. E-mail her at kdayton@charlestonbusiness.com.
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