Accident-prone Johns Island intersection receives $5 million in state funding

JOHNS ISLAND, SC (WCSC) – An accident-prone intersection on Johns Island is set to receive $5 million in state safety improvements.

With nearly 8,000 vehicles traveling through the intersection of Brownswood Road and River Road each day, according to the South Carolina Department of Transportation, government officials knew this was where changes needed to be made.

In a team effort, Charleston County government, Charleston County School District, SCDOT, and state Reps. Spencer Wetmore (D-Charleston County) and Leon Stavrinakis (D-Charleston County) are working to get this project started.

“River Road has long been a dangerous place for people,” said Johns Island resident Brent Mattox.

Stavrinakis and Wetmore are the two statehouse representatives who requested these funds.

“Traffic and safety concerns are certainly nothing new,” Stavrinakis said.

At the point where River Road meets Brownswood, there have been 24 accidents and one fatality in the past five years, according to SCDOT.

Both Mattox and Stavrinakis say they are not surprised.

“We have seen some damage from time to time and there has been at least one case where a bridge or its railing was apparently damaged by an accident and took months to repair,” Mattox said.

“Sometimes citizens email me pictures of overturned vehicles,” said Stavrinakis.

And with a new elementary school being built just down the road in Charleston County, Stavrinakis knew the funds were needed now.

“Given the incredible growth, we are so far behind in managing traffic in this corridor,” Stavrinakis said.

Now, the state will invest $5 million to build a roundabout at the intersection to fix the current problems and ease future school traffic. Construction could begin as early as next August.

However, the current road plan does not envisage completion of the roundabout for at least six years.

“My goal is for this to happen as quickly as possible,” Stavrinakis said. “…We must do everything we can to ensure that this happens, if at all possible, at the same time as the construction and opening of the school.”

Mattox does not believe that the construction work itself will significantly improve the situation in the meantime.

“I guess that’s the price of progress,” Mattox said.

Plans for the roundabout state that preliminary design could take the next three and a half years, with obtaining rights of way and relocating utilities taking another year and a half after that. Charleston County officials expect construction to take a year and be completed by the end of the 2031 fiscal year.

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