In January, the Rethink Folly Committee elected County Councilman Joe Qualey to serve as Vice Chair in place of former Charleston City Councilwoman Kathleen Wilson. The Committee also welcomed new City Councilwoman Carol Jackson.
The Committee voted to recommend that the County's Bike and Pedestrian infill project begin in the area between Ellis Creek and Prescott Avenue. This is in what the Folly Road Overlay Zoning District describes as James Island's Commercial Core. The project is on the west side of Folly Road.
The County has selected the Reveer Group to do the design for the bike-ped project. They should begin survey work shortly after March 1 and should have preliminary design by September. This preliminary design will include options of a standard five foot sidewalk, a wider sidewalk (perhaps 8 feet) and multi-use path of variable width, narrowing in areas where there isn't sufficient room, and finally the proposal of moving the curb out into Folly Road, partly putting the multi-use path in place of the existing bike lane. Cost estimates will be provided for these options, and the Rethink Folly Road committee will have an opportunity to provide a recommendation on these options. After than, detailed design work will commence. The project should be ready to bid our for construction in the summer of 2019.
County Council has approved $365,000 for the current bike/ped project, which added to the Town's $400,000, the City of Charleston's $400,000, the $1.5 million federal grant obtained by the Town from COG adds up to $2,665,000.
The half-cent sales tax referendum included $15 million for James Island, and there are several projects going forward. These include intersection improvements at Riverland and Central Park, Fort Johnson and Secessionville, and Fort Johnson and Camp. The County still believes that there will be approximately $2 million left over after those three projects are funded, but County Council would have to approve spending any additional money on the bike-ped improvements on Folly Road. (In previous reports, I had been counting all $2 million as being in the bag, but really there is only $365,000 has been approved.)
At the February Meeting, the Committee approved a change in schedule to meeting every other month. This was a compromise with the staff recommendation that the meetings be quarterly. The meetings will now be every other month on the fourth Wednesday at 3:30 PM. The next meeting will be April 25.
Also at the February meeting, the Committee voted to recommend that the speed limit on Folly Road be reduced from 40 mph to 35 mph in the segment between the James Island Connector and Fort Johnson Road. The Rethink Folly Road plan calls for the speed limit to be reduced to 30 mph from the Wappoo Bridge to Fort Johnson Road and then to 35 mph on to the Folly River Bridge. SCDOT recently reduced the speed limit from 45 mph to 40 mph between the James Island Connector and Fort Johnson Road. The Committee believes that this remains an excessive speed for a central business area, and it is especially dangerous for pedestrians as well as those using the bike lanes.
