Small Business Council to send letter urging alternatives to SCDOT Folly Road medians

Members of the Town of James Island Small Business Council challenged South Carolina Department of Transportation designs that would install raised medians through the commercial stretch of Folly Road, arguing the medians would restrict access to businesses, divert delivery traffic onto residential streets and complicate emergency access.

"You just literally told me that you want to drive commercial traffic through a residential neighborhood," the Chair said after relaying an engineer's proposed traffic pattern. Business owners and residents described deliveries and left-turn movements that would be blocked or rerouted, and several said medians previously caused steep sales declines at other locations.

Committee members noted DOT's traffic-count methodology may undercount trips that begin on private drives or from commercial centers, and discussed alternatives such as targeted signals, designated crossing points, right-turn-only egress for businesses, or improvements to connectivity between public parking and storefronts. A representative from the Rethink Holly Road steering committee described the need for solutions that preserve business access and pedestrian connections.

The committee moved and approved a motion to draft a letter to SCDOT and the Rethink Folly Road steering committee asking DOT to consider alternatives and to coordinate with neighborhoods and businesses on safety and access. The committee designated members to draft the preliminary text and circulate it for approval.