photo provided by Kimley-Horn and Associates

photo provided by Kimley-Horn and Associates

Planners proposed a series of roundabout traffic circles on Main Street downtown to help with traffic flow and safety as part of the Dorchester County Transportation Master Plan. The Planning Commission has 180 days to make a final recommendation to the council.

photo provided by Kimley-Horn and Associates

Renderings show a planted median in the heart of downtown Summerville on Main Street. Planners said that planted medians have been shown to reduce crashes and improve congestion while increasing corridor aesthetics.

In order to provide a safer and more attractive corridor through the heart of downtown Summerville, planners from Kimley-Horn and Associates are recommending adding several roundabout traffic circles along Main Street.

The intersections at Main Street and Joyce Lane, Main Street and South Hampton Street and the intersection of Carolina Avenue, Tupper Lane and Main Street would all benefit from adding the traffic circles, planners said.

“It would slow traffic down by the schools,” said Matt Rutkowski, a planner with Kimley-Horn.

The county hired the firm to come up with a transportation master plan. All the recommendations were displayed on diagrams and maps on Monday night in St. George, before the scheduled council meeting.

According to the planners’ projections, the roundabouts would cost $2.7 million, to be paid for jointly by the town of Summerville and the South Carolina Department of Transportation.

The planners predict the project would break ground in 2016, depending on need and available funding.

The Dorchester County Planning Commission now has 180 days to review the plans and make a recommendation to the council, said County Administrator Jason Ward.

Planners have been working for over a year analyzing traffic conditions and interviewing residents in Dorchester County about how to make traffic run smoother.

Rutkowski said the recommendation for roundabouts along Main Street came from looking at the number of traffic accidents and calculating traffic counts on the road.

“We wanted to protect the integrity and streetscape,” Rutkowski said.

According to the firm, current traffic volumes range from 11,000 vehicles per day near the southern end of the corridor to over 16,000 vehicles per day near W. 5th North Street. Projected traffic is expected to grow marginally over the next 10 years, ranging from 13,000 to 20,000 vehicles per day.

Rutkowski said traffic lights would not be appropriate for the main corridor since they bring traffic to a stop for a prolonged period.

Planners consider the signalized intersection at Carolina Avenue, Tupper Avenue and Main Street “awkward,” and reported that the current design creates “difficult sight lines that create safety issues.”

“Pedestrian and motorist safety is important, especially in the core of downtown and near the schools,” planners wrote in their recommendation.

Additional improvements that planners recommend for Main Street include adding planted medians to Main Street near West Richardson Avenue.

“We resisted the urge to widen it,” Rutkowski said.

Planners said that planted medians have been shown to reduce crashes and improve congestion while increasing corridor aesthetics.

They noted that the section of Main Street north of W. 3rd Street already has a median that can be landscaped.

The planners identified six other intersections in the county that could be improved, including Highway 78 in St. George, Highway 78 in Summerville, Wire Road in St. George, Main Street in Harleyville, the Glenn McConnell Parkway, and the Orangeburg Road/Mallard Road/Jedburg Road corridor.

The document’s long-range transportation plan also considers a roundabout at Main Street and Richardson Avenue with landscaping. It was projected to cost $400,000, and would tentatively take place in the year 2026.

Contact Jenny Peterson at 873-9424 ext. 216 or JPeterson@journalscene.com.

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