Charleston County Government will begin the Folly Road at Camp Road Intersection Improvements project on Sunday, March 20. The design includes major changes to Camp Road and Folly Road by adding dedicated turn lanes, bike lanes, sidewalks and improving drainage in the area. The construction cost of the project is estimated to be $14.4 million and is funded by the Charleston County Transportation Sales Tax
"This is a great project that has been a long time coming. Putting the plan and funding in place and securing the right of way acquisitions have been extremely challenging and time consuming," said Charleston County Councilmember Joseph Qualey. "This truly has been a collaborative effort between Charleston County, City of Charleston, Town of James Island and many private citizens. My thanks to all those who played a role and we look forward to the much needed traffic relief at that intersection."
The Folly Road and Camp Road Intersection Improvements Project was requested by the City of Charleston and approved by voters in the second Transportation Sales Tax bond referendum.
Details of the project:
- Folly Road will be widened to provide an additional turn lane for the southbound traffic turning left from Folly Road onto Camp Road. A dedicated right-turn lane will be added for northbound traffic turning right from Folly Road onto Camp Road.
- Camp Road will be widened so that two lanes of traffic can turn left from Folly Road onto Camp Road. Dedicated left turn lanes will be added on both sides of Camp Road approaching Folly Road. A dedicated right turn lane will be added on Camp Road for traffic turning right onto Folly Road toward downtown Charleston.
- Improvements to roadway drainage to help alleviate flooding include new catch basins, cleaned ditches, new curb and gutter, larger sized drainage pipes and water quality filters.
- Dedicated left-turn lanes will be added on Eugene Gibbs Street and Rivers Point Row for traffic turning from these streets onto Folly Road. A dedicated right-turn lane will be provided on Rivers Point Row for traffic turning onto Folly Road.
- Four-foot wide bicycle lanes and five-foot wide sidewalks will be added on both sides of Folly Road from Calvary Baptist Church to the Eugene Gibbs Street and Rivers Point Row intersection. A five-foot wide sidewalk will be constructed on Camp Road from Folly Road to Oyster Point Row (on the side of the road where the fire station is located). All sidewalks have been designed to avoid impacting existing grand trees.
- Stoplight upgrades throughout the project will include pedestrian signals for the improved crosswalks.
- Numerous grand live oak trees that line Camp Road will be protected during construction.
Project schedule:
Construction activities will begin on March 20 and will include nighttime lane closures that will continue through March 24, weather permitting. Road work will scale back temporarily in April as utility work continues around the Folly and Camp intersection.
The public can get up-to-date project information on the project, including construction status and traffic alerts, online at http://roads.charlestoncounty.org/projects/folly_camp.
Charleston County Transportation Sales Tax:
In November of 2004, the citizens of Charleston County voted to enact a half-cent sales tax to be used for the purposes of transportation improvements, greenbelt facilities, and mass transit. Collection of the tax began in May 2005 and continues for 25 years or until $1.3 billion is collected. In November 2006, the voters of Charleston County authorized the county to issue an additional $205 million in bonds.
Visit the official website at http://roads.charlestoncounty.org for public meeting notices and up-to-date news and information about all Charleston County Transportation Sales Tax road projects. Anyone with questions about the project can call Charleston County's Transportation Development Department at (843) 202-6140.