Resident complaints spur upgrades at Beaufort curve after 2 wrecks, pedestrian collision
A sharp 90-degree turn on a road with one of the most picturesque views in Beaufort has residents demanding improvements from the South Carolina Department of Transportation before another car crashes or hits a pedestrian.
The location is Bellamy Curve, named after a prominent Beaufort family, which connects Carteret Street and downtown Beaufort with Boundary Street and uptown. The well-known juncture, where traffic is supposed to slow to 15 mph, offers a sweeping view of the Beaufort River, which lies just to the east. But in the last several months, two cars have failed to negotiate the curve and careened into the marsh. In another instance, a car struck a man who was walking on the sidewalk, causing serious injuries.
“My biggest concern is the safety of residents,” Andy Kinghill said.
Kinghill lives nearby in the Pigeon Point neighborhood. He and his wife walk the sidewalk on Bellamy Curve every day. He is one of the residents who first began raising the alarm over the landmark curve to the SCDOT.
Some of the most frequent users of the sidewalk parallel to it are University of South Carolina Beaufort students walking between the campus on Carteret and student housing on Boundary, Kinghill notes. With the number of students using the sidewalk next to the road, Kinghill says, “sooner or later somebody’s going to get hit.”
Kinghill contacted the SCDOT twice following the car crashes. Some signs were put up but Kinghill was still disappointed in the response so he contacted state Rep. Shannon Erickson. Erickson helped to facilitate an August meeting between city of Beaufort officials and SCDOT, which maintains Carteret and Boundary streets.
Thanks to the pressure of Kinghill and others, the SCDOT is planning some changes along the curve to improve safety for pedestrians and motorists.
The plan to slow traffic
The SCDOT has notified the city that, with its concurrence, it plans to install pavement markings, or stripes in the roads, along with raised pavement markers to help slow vehicles as they enter the turn and make the path more visible.
The markers will follow the curve from roughly the Beaufort Regional Chamber of Commerce building on Carteret to Congresswoman Nancy Mace’s offices on Boundary.
It was the complaints from residents that prompted the city to lobby the SCDOT for improvements, Mayor Phil Cromer said.
“That’s sort of a bad curve,” Cromer said.
The striping plan will call attention to the severity of the curve, but there are no plans to change its configuration, City Manager Scott Marshall said.
“They can proceed immediately with a striping plan on the traffic going around that curve,” Marshall said at a recent City Council work session, when council members endorsed the SCDOT’s striping and raised marker plan.
Boardwalk could be next
The city originally wanted SCDOT to consider a guardrail, Cromer said. The state recommended the striping and raised pavement markings instead. SCDOT also asked the city to consider tearing out the sidewalk and building an elevated boardwalk farther from the curve in the future.
In a letter to the city, Andrew Leaphart, SCDOT’s chief operations engineer, said a boardwalk project would be a strong candidate for a grant. An observation pier could be considered as part of the project, he added, which would allow people to view the river.
Council members agreed to have additional discussions about the boardwalk idea but for now plans call for just the striping of the road and the raised pavement markers.
“SCDOT is working closely with the City of Beaufort to update the pavement markings and signs along the roadway,” said Hannah Robinson, an SCDOT spokesperson. “We will continue to work closely together with them on the possibility of other future improvements.”
There currently no timeline for when the striping and raised marker work will occur, Robinson said.
Wrecks, pedestrian collisions prompt action
During a walk six months ago, Kinghorn noticed a car in the marsh. That prompted his first call to the SCDOT. Then in March, a high-speed police pursuit sent a Dodge Charger careening off the sharp bend and into the pluff mud. He called SCDOT again.
Kinghorn noted that a neighbor of his also was struck by a car while walking on the curve and seriously injured more than year ago. That neighbor was Chuck Richardson, who was struck from behind by a vehicle on the evening of July 17, 2024 as he rounded the curve walking home to Pigeon Point. The collision broke his left ankle in three places. Richard considers himself lucky to be alive. He heard the vehicle behind him before it jumped the curb.
“It was skid, then hit the curb and hit me,” said Richardson, who ended up face down by a large oak tree. An ambulance rushed him to the hospital.
In the wake of being hit, Richardson also contacted the SCDOT. Getting the city on board with asking for changes, he said, gave more “horsepower” to the lobbying efforts of residents. He welcomes the proposed changes. He worries about pedestrians, too, especially the USCB students.
“There’s a lot of kids walking back and forth every day,” he said. “Eventually, somebody’s going to get killed.”
The posted speed limit is 15 mph at the curve but 25 mph on the approaching segments of Boundary and Carteret. Kinghorn says motorists regularly approach the area at 40 mph. “Speed is really a problem,” he says.
This story was originally published September 19, 2025 at 1:28 PM.
