700 new homes coming to Beaufort County. How will they impact traffic?
Dennis Ross of Cat Island is concerned about the development that’s coming to neighboring Upper and Lower Cane islands.
He’s concerned that planned unit developments, approved 30 years ago, give developers the right to build without input from the current public. He’s worried about the environmental impact on the land and wildlife. And he thinks proposed erosion prevention methods might actually make things worse.
But the potential for a major traffic increase on busy Ladys Island Drive from the construction of hundreds of houses is what gets Ross really heated.
He predicts major problems if the South Department of Transportation doesn’t require more mitigation to handle additional vehicles from two housing plans on Upper Cane Island Lower Cane Island and others nearby. The plans could bring up to 700 houses and a five-story hotel to 380 acres of land on Upper and Lower Cane islands.
Vehicles already “come flying” off the McTeer Bridge on Lady’s Island Drive toward the intersection with Island Causeway, says Ross, who lives across from Upper Cane Island.
Turn gaps on and off Islands Causeway from Ladys Island Drive already can be minimal because of the heavy traffic at the intersection, which falls between the McTeer Bridge to the west and Meridian Road to the north.
There were 63 collisions between 2020 and 2025 at the Ladys Island Drive-Islands Causeway and Ladys Island Drive-Meridian Road intersections, according to the South Carolina Department of Public Safety. Of those crashes, 51 were property damage, 11 were injury and one was a fatal that took the lives of four people in 2020.
“So what you’re trying to do is funnel this into one area without any concern for the current residents, for visitors, people who live in Port Royal, people who live on Lady’s Island that use this bridge,” Ross said. “Doesn’t matter, because the developer is allowed to do it.”
Ross is one of many neighbors concerned about how plans to bring development to the now-rural Upper and Lower Cane islands could cause traffic headaches and safety issues in the area. Average daily traffic on Ladys Island Drive is 28,000 vehicles, and 3,700 on Island Causeway, said Elizabeth Childers, a SCDOT spokesperson.
Residents have petitioned the SCDOT to address safety concerns. Curt Freese, head of the city of Beaufort’s Community Development Department, said as part of the legacy development agreements for both projects, the city could not require a traffic analysis.
“It limited us pretty drastically,” he said.
However, SCDOT is requiring a traffic analysis.
SCDOT would not discuss the specific mitigation plans it will require of the developers. Childers, the SCDOT spokesperson, said traffic mitigation will be proposed once “the stage of development has been reached that requires it,” she said.
Documents provided by the city and Cat Island residents show SCDOT is requiring developers of the Upper Cane Island project, called Kane Island, to construct a traffic signal at Ladys Island Drive and Islands Causeway, but not until the 63rd house is constructed.
An additional left-hand turn lane would be required off of Islands Causeway into the development in later phases. The entire 445 homes allowed in the Kane Island PUD could be built with the addition of the turn signal and left-hand turn lane.
Troy Lucas, senior vice president of Kane Island Development Co. official, said the addition of the traffic signal and dedicated left-turn lane will bring a notable improvement in traffic, which already is congested, even if the development is fully built out.
“These upgrades will help the intersection function more safely and efficiently for both current and future residents,” Lucas said.
Ross calls the situation “a mess.”
“There’s absolutely no mitigation plan for that whatsoever,” he says.
