In a recent virtual public meeting, Charleston County updated the community on its plans to improve 8 miles of Highway 78 between Rivers Avenue and Berlin G. Myers Parkway to alleviate traffic congestion and improve safety. The county plans to achieve this through lane expansion, increasing capacity at critical intersections, and encouraging alternative forms of transport by improving biking and pedestrian infrastructure. They are working closely with the Berkeley-Charleston-Dorchester Council of Governments (BCDCOG) to accommodate the future Lowcountry Rapid Transit (LCRT) project, the state’s first mass transit system.
The meeting gathered input on four preliminary alternatives, ranging from the most cost-effective Alternative 1, which focuses on re-configuring intersections that are key to traffic delays along the corridor, to the most ambitious Alternative 4, which plans to widen the corridor from two to five lanes between Berlin G. Myers Parkway and the Coastal Carolina Fairgrounds and from five to six lanes between the I-26 intersection and Rivers Avenue.
Artist rendering of a new bus stop
All four alternatives involve adding dedicated bus lanes between the I-26 intersection and Rivers Avenue. They also include a 5-foot sidewalk on one side of the road and a 10-foot multi-use path on the opposite side, with buffers between the road shoulder and the sidewalks to improve pedestrian and biker safety.
Charleston Moves, a nonprofit organization that advocates for mobility by bicycle, foot, and public transit throughout the Charleston area, provided valuable insights, saying in a statement: “It is vital to recognize that the region cannot widen its way out of traffic congestion and that splitting the mode share (i.e., providing bus rapid transit and robust bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure) is the only way to plan for efficient movement in the future.”
Learn more about the Highway 78 corridor improvement project at https://hwy78corridor.com.
