ISLE OF PALMS, S.C. (WCSC) - Isle of Palms is working to find a solution to traffic concerns on the island.
The city council is considering a traffic study to improve transportation throughout the island and the Isle of Palms Connector.
Jan Anderson, councilmember and a former registered professional engineer with 40 years of experience conducting these types of traffic studies, said the council should pump the brakes on the about $29,500 proposal from one company to conduct the study.
“I’m going to propose that we take a step back and we set up a request for proposal for a more in-depth study that we can do next season, and we now have time to tee it up correctly,” Anderson said.
Anderson said May through September traffic issues are the most challenging on IOP. The busy season is long, with the most traffic on the Fourth of July and Memorial Day weekends. She said it would be best not to start collecting data in the middle of the busy season.
She added that the goal of the study would be to figure out what happens when a gridlock occurs and how it can be cleared faster. She’s also advocating for a traditional traffic study focusing primarily on the intersection of Palm Boulevard and the IOP Connector. It is the only signal intersection on the island, and Anderson said the South Carolina Department of Transportation is on board with re-timing it, since it is under its control. They could also look at reconfiguring the intersection and long-term improvements. As for the IOP Connector, there could be another option.
“South Carolina DOT will occasionally make allowances or give permits for what are considered emergency or short-term conditions, where, possibly, we could use the shoulder lane on the outgoing side of the connector for a second lane of traffic across the connector. Of course, what happens on the other end of the connector is up to Mount Pleasant, so we would have to coordinate something with them,” Anderson said.
All of that and more would be considered in the in-depth study, and coordinating with SCDOT and neighbors like Sullivan’s Island and Mount Pleasant is the goal.
Amy Ballard lives on the island and said she supports a traffic study, adding something needs to be done, but doesn’t know what.
“It’s hard to get through from one place to the other anytime in the summer. Especially to make dinner plans, you can’t make reservations or anything because traffic is so bad,” Ballard said.
As for Jim Gaughan, who also lives on IOP, he said you just have to plan your day around avoiding busy hours on the road.
“I don’t have a strong feeling that we have a problem that is affecting my quality of life,” Gaughan said.
While the level of inconvenience varies per person, the benefit of living on the island may outweigh the problem.
“If the island wasn’t such a great place, we wouldn’t have a traffic problem,” Gaughan said.
Even still, Anderson said there’s always room for improvement.
“We can have viable improvements people will actually notice,” Anderson said.
Anderson said even if the council postpones the study until next year, the time to choose a company to do the study is now.
The city council meets Tuesday night and will discuss how they plan on moving forward.
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