Will Bluffton street light and sidewalk project make these ‘dangerous’ roads safer?
The town of Bluffton is in the final stages of building connected sidewalks and public sewer along Buck Island and Simmonsville roads, town manager Marc Orlando said Wednesday.
The next step: Improving lighting and safety.
The sidewalks and lighting are part of a $1.4-million multi-year, multi-phase project that started in 2017.
The mission is to connect neighborhoods and businesses in an area of Bluffton with heavy foot traffic. While construction of the sidewalks is ongoing, town council and staff are deciding how to improve lighting in the area.
The total project is expected to be complete In June 2022, according to town documents.
“The goal is to have people off the street as they walk to school or as they move around from place to place,” Orlando said. “Once the sidewalks are in, lighting remains a priority.”
A large piece of the project is to improve the lighting along these roads to prevent vehicle accidents.
Town council member Fred Hamilton said two of his family members were killed by vehicles along Buck Island Road because of a lack of sidewalks and street lights.
“This Is a significant Improvement for the community, especially with lighting at night,” he said.
He said with all of the recent development along U.S. 278 and Bluffton Parkway, many people use Buck Island and Simmonsville roads as a thoroughfare to escape traffic. That traffic has created dangerous safety issues for two roads that, in previous years, did not have proper sidewalks or lighting.
“It seems to bring In traffic other than the people that live In the community,” Hamilton said. “It’s a gateway. It means they don’t always obey the speed limit as well.”
So far, the town has Installed 7,500 feet of sidewalks and lighting in the Buck Island and Simmonsville neighborhood, according to town documents. The town’s current phase is to connect sidewalks on Buck Island Road between May River Road and Bluffton Parkway.
For the next step lighting project to move forward, town council has to decide what type of lights to install and how much power the lights should have, according to town documents.
On Tuesday, council discussed the lighting project along with its other capital Improvement projects such as upgrades to Oyster Factory Park, Calhoun Street and the Squire Pope Carriage House.
While most of the other projects will require additional funding, Mayor Lisa Sulka said the money for the Buck Island and Simmonsville roads project is in place.
This story was originally published July 22, 2020 at 1:26 PM.
