Representatives of the South Carolina Department of Transportation are expected to be at the regularly scheduled March 28 meeting of the Isle of Palms City Council to discuss changes to the striping configuration on the IOP Connector.
Five possible options were posted on the IOP website for about a month – until Feb. 17 – to give area residents the opportunity to voice their opinions on which alternative should be chosen. At the Council’s Feb. 28 meeting, Mayor Phillip Pounds said it would be the second week in March before the city sees a report from SCDOT.
The Public Safety Committee, consisting of Jimmy Ward, Blair Hahn and Jan Anderson, recommended Option 3 at the Council’s February meeting, though there also was support for Option 5, both on the Committee and among other members of the Council.
Option 3 would bring back the 10-foot center emergency lane that was eliminated when SCDOT re-striped the bridge without input from IOP in March 2021. It would provide one multi use path for bicycles and pedestrians on the west side and would remove the existing multi use path on the east side of the road.
Option 5 does not include an emergency lane, but it does provide for two lanes of traffic leaving Isle of Palms and a multi use path for bikes and walkers on the west side. It would require widening and paving work to accommodate two lanes heading into Mount Pleasant, as well as alterations at the IOP end of the bridge and Palm Boulevard.
Anderson, who cast the lone dissenting vote on the Public Safety Committee, said Option 5’s three-lane configuration would “help improve traffic and maintain a safe roadway.” Anderson, who spent 40 years as a traffic engineer, said the Connector already is one of the safest thoroughfares in the state.
Rusty Streetman said he also favored Option 5 but cautioned that IOP will not be making a unilateral decision on the re-striping of the Connector. He said input would have to come from other municipalities and from SCDOT as well.
John Bogosian said he likes Option 5 and suggested that the city make its preferences known to SCDOT as soon as possible.
“We need to make a resolution and send it to Secretary Hall and the DOT, letting them know how Council feels about these decisions,” he said.
According to Hahn, the Public Safety Committee recommended Option 3 with a caveat: For safety reasons, the height of the outside of the connector must be increased and there must be some type of barrier between cyclists and pedestrians and vehicles.
Police Chief Kevin Cornett told the Council that he favors Option 3 because it would allow the Police Department to maneuver vehicles around a collision on the bridge.
“With Option 5, if there was a crash inbound, there would be no place to direct traffic,” he said.
Fire Chief Craig Oliverius said his department would make any of the concepts work, and he added that when accidents occur, he prefers to shut down the entire roadway to help avoid secondary accidents.
