Charleston City Council discusses taking ownership of a portion Maybank Highway, adding a new lane

JOHNS ISLAND, S.C. (WCBD) – Charleston City Council members discussed taking control of a portion of Maybank Highway Wednesday which would allow them to add a new lane.

During the Traffic and Transportation committee meeting, Mayor William Cogswell presented members with a proposal to take ownership of the stretch from River Road to the Paul Gelegotis bridge. The road is currently owned by the South Carolina Department of Transportation.

“My wife works at MUSC downtown, I know that she is often frustrated by the traffic situation. So, I think that adding another lane would be beneficial,” Kevin Gillen, a Johns Island resident, said.

Nearby residents, like Gillen, told News 2, they are in favor of getting the additional lane as traffic can back up during peak hours. Officials said by owning this section, it can enable them to cut through red tape and expedite the process.

“So, what we’re proposing is narrowing the lanes, but also slowing the speed limit so that people are safe. If you have an 11 foot lane you’re not going 40 miles an hour. You’re going 25 miles an hour,” Cogswell said. “What that will do though is it may slow you down but the throughput is going to be obviously a lot more than just one lane.”

Current designs from Charleston County and the SCDOT show the project taking over two years and the removal of many grand oak trees along the road. The city would be able to go around the requirements of the lane widths while maintaining safety and the trees. Additionally, this project would require funding from the County, which may come from money set aside from the 526 project. The settlement may allot for around $15 million.

Gillen added living on Fenwick Hall Allee has allowed to get him and his wife to travel off the island faster, especially with the majority of the traffic being past the River Road zipper merge.

“It’s one of the reasons why we picked the location we’re in is that we knew it would be a short trip on Maybank to get to the bridge. My wife knew that because of the situation further down on Maybank. We’ve see a lot of growth here on the island, so I’m sure as more people move in and the population increases – it just makes sense to put another lane in to plan for the additional traffic that’s coming.”

The mayor said this is a quicker, cost-effective solution to an issue that affects many coming off of Johns Island.

“This is a real bottleneck, a real problem that’s not going away anytime soon in fact it’s only getting worse. I think it’s incumbent on us in local government to try and address this as quickly as possible,” Cogswell said.