This Lady’s Island road project will finish a little later than expected

A major Lady’s Island road project will finish a little later than initially expected.

A roundabout under construction at Sams Point Road, Brickyard Point Road and Holly Hall Road is now targeted for completion Aug. 30, S.C. Department of Transportation engineer Craig Winn said Monday. The project was initially slated to finish this month.

Much of the delay was due to Hurricane Matthew in October, Winn said, and partly due to relocating utilities. Curb, gutter and sidewalk work is complete.

“The contract is currently doing asphalt buildup and leveling to come up to final grade,” he wrote in an email.

The $4 million project will be paid for through the Lowcountry Council of Governments using federal money from DOT's Guideshare program. About 20 percent will be paid for with state money.

The roundabout was approved in 2011 and was to be paid for with impact fees from new housing developments but stalled due to slumping home sales at the time.

Engineers believe a roundabout is more appropriate at the intersection than a traditional traffic signal and will allow cars to flow more freely through the intersection at slower speeds. Federal research has shown roundabouts to be safer than traditional intersections.

The 175-foot diameter roundabout will replace a four-way intersection where Sams Point narrows to one lane northbound.

About 20,800 cars each day traveled Sams Point Road from Robin Drive to Brickyard Point Road in 2016, according to SCDOT numbers. That’s up from 14,400 trips in 2014 on the same stretch.

This story was originally published June 5, 2017 at 4:05 PM with the headline "This Lady’s Island road project will finish a little later than expected."