10 questions answered: $61 million in changes for Ribaut Rd. in Beaufort and Port Royal.
The goal of a $61.7 million plan to overhaul 5.5 miles of Ribaut Road from Boundary Street in Beaufort to the Bell Bridge in Port Royal is improved safety for motorists, pedestrians and bicyclists, according to transportation planners.
Here’s 10 things to know about the work — dubbed “Reimagining Ribaut” — which is still in the planning and public comment gathering stages and has yet to receive funding.
Question 1. What’s the problem?
Almost everybody uses Ribaut Road in northern Beaufort County to get to work or school or the hospital or home or to and from the Sea Islands. The road cuts through residential neighborhoods, past a college and two hospitals and stores and shops in Beaufort and Port Royal.
But it’s become clogged as area growth continues to outstrip capacity.
Transportation planners say speeding is a problem and there are too many vehicle wrecks. It’s unsafe for pedestrians and bicyclists, too, they say, because cars zip past sidewalks that butt right up against the busy road.
Q2. What’s the plan?
Planners want to spend $61.7 million to make the road named after French explorer Jean Ribaut safer.
Q3. Where will the funding come from?
The plan calls for burying the power lines along the entire stretch at a cost of $16.9 million. The rest of the improvements would cost an estimated $44.8 million.
Where the money will come from still isn’t known but a plan is needed to get the ball rolling, says Jared Fralix, Beaufort County assistant administrator of infrastructure. “Fate favors the prepared,” he said.
Local funds will surely be needed for some of the work, he said. One option is a transportation sales tax. Without local funding for the work, Fralix says, funding from other sources will not be possible.
Two factors driving up the cost of the project are the cost of relocating utilities and purchasing right-of-way, Fralix said.
Q4. Who’s leading the project?
It’s a joint effort of Beaufort County, the city of Beaufort and the town of Port Royal. The county hired a consultant to do a preliminary master plan.
Q5. What’s the plan for Lady’s Island Drive?
Ribaut Road at Lady’s Island Drive is the most important intersection in northern Beaufort County, says Port Royal Councilman Jerry Ashmore, and Fralex doesn’t disagree.
Ribaut Road is a big transportation artery that pumps cars between Beaufort and Port Royal. Lady’s Island Drive is the link to the McTeer Bridge, which crosses the Beaufort River to Lady’s Island and the Sea Islands. That intersection is particularly backed up at rush hour as cars attempt to squeeze through what amounts to a funnel to get across the Beaufort River.
One of the biggest proposed changes in the Ribaut Road projects involves this intersection.
The planned upgrade is building a “channelized free flow right turn” on Ribaut Road onto Lady’s Island Drive. Currently, vehicles have to come to a stop until they get a green light.
“This new improvement would allow continuous movement for that right turn so they don’t have to sit and wait for a signal,” Fralix said.
This work will not solve all of the intersection’s problems, Fralix notes. Long-term, he said, more work will be needed to handle the large amount of traffic that flows through it, Fralix said, but the free-flowing right turn is a start.
Q6. What about the other intersections?
Redesigned intersections are planned as well including at Pinckney Boulevard near the Naval Hospital, Mossy Oaks Road near the Piggly Wiggly-anchored shopping center and at Paris Avenue, at the turn toward downtown Port Royal.
Q7. How is reducing lanes in Beaufort good for traffic flow?
The initial plan called for narrowing Ribaut from 4 to 3 between Duke Street and Reynolds Street at the Technical College of the Lowcountry in Beaufort. Traffic on the north end of the road in Beaufort is declining while it is increasing in Port Royal, Fralix said. Narrowing the road could reduce the speeds through residential areas and improve safety for residents trying to back out of driveways, Fralix said.
However, Beaufort residents thought that was a terrible idea and let their voices to be heard at a meeting last month. Other options are now being evaluated, Fralix said.
“Not everything we say is going to be liked by all, and we recognize that,” Fralix said.
Three roundabouts — at Boundary and Reynolds streets and Depot Road — also are possible in Beaufort.
Q8. Will this area become more pedestrian-friendly?
Plans are in the works to make the road safer for pedestrians. A 10-foot-wide multi-use path is planned along the entire 5.5-mile stretch on one side of Ribaut. The other side would get a five-foot-wide sidewalk. A signalized crossing for the Spanish Moss Trail on the southern end of the project in Port Royal also is planned. At a recent meeting in Port Royal, Mayor Joe DeVito asked Fralix to consider options to make it easier for pedestrians and bicyclists to access both the Bell and McTeer bridges. DeVito also said that work in Port Royal should get priority because Ribaut Road traffic is heaviest in the town.
Q9. Is there a signature feature?
A new “Port Royal Gateway” sign would be placed over the road to greet motorists entering the town from the Bell Bridge. The sign would serve as the official entrance into the downtown area of Port Royal. But it also would be a “traffic calming” measure to reduce the speed of traffic coming off the bridge. “I like it,” Darryl Owens, a Port Royal Town Council member, said of the sign.
Q10. What happens next?
Transportation planners are now getting feedback from Beaufort, Port Royal, Beaufort County residents, elected officials and government staff. After revisions to the plan are finalized, the plan will be brought back to the county, town and city for endorsements. That process will happen over the next few months, Fralix said.
This story was originally published November 21, 2023 at 5:00 AM.
