Berkeley County, community looking to reduce ‘thru’ traffic problem areas

BERKELEY COUNTY, S.C. (WCSC) – Berkeley County leaders and community members are talking about efforts to reduce safety risks associated with trucks that travel through rural areas.
Shanna Saulisbury was raised in Lebanon on her dad’s farm. She remembers taking care of cows, pigs and other barn animals. Growing corn and sharing goods with neighbors was her everyday thing.
Lebanon, like most places off Highway 176, has stayed largely undeveloped and hosts a generational history of farming and hunting.
“We are a small farming community. We have farmers on the road moving equipment with tractors,” Saulisbury says.
Massive developments, including the Volvo and Camp Hall plants nearby, bring business and jobs but also traffic closer to front yards. Many larger trucks and vehicles carrying cargo have the option to use larger roads but will cut through Lebanon and Fish Road to get where they need to go.
Saulisbury recalls trucks having to lock up brakes so they do not run into the backs of farm equipment.
“Volvo Car Drive, it’s a three-lane road. So, truckers would be there without any inhabitants, no farmers to dodge, no pedestrians, no slow-moving traffic, no homes,” Saulisbury says. “It is rare to see anybody actually in those trucks doing 45 miles per hour. Whenever you have a large, loaded truck coming through a small community, narrow road, it poses a big risks to the kids on their bikes.”
In a meeting Monday, Berkeley County leaders took on a discussion between community members about a solution. Many district council members agreed it is a problem across the board, including roads like Lazy Hill or Myers.
“It’s scary, it’s an infringement on the quality of life, because they’ve never experienced that before, and realistically, we didn’t really know to what degree it was having such a negative impact on them,” District Seven Councilmember Caldwell Pinckney says.
One solution, deemed low-cost and an effective starting point, would be the use of “No Thru Traffic” signs on affected roads. The county says it would need the support of larger agencies to make it happen for state-controlled roads, but county-owned spaces could be a start.
County leaders say they are in contact with the state Department of Transportation for help on signage and implementing safety measures.
“We’re trying to play catch up as far as infrastructure is concerned,” Pinckney says.
Saulisbury agrees the growth is valuable to the Lowcountry, but it needs an opportunity to improve public safety.
“It’s heartbreaking at times, and a bit frustrating, because there are things I think we could put in place that would maintain the culture and tradition of what this community is. I would like my children and grandchildren to experience the same wonderful things about growing up in a farming, agricultural community that I did,” Saulisbury says. “Value needs to be placed on farming and agricultural communities that have been in existence for over 150 years.”
Copyright 2024 WCSC. All rights reserved.