Last night on Wednesday October 24th Charleston County and the Charleston County transportation development committee hosted a community meeting to present proposed improvements to the intersection of Central Park Rd. and Riverland Dr. on James Island. The focus of the improvements is to improve quality of life for bicyclist, pedestrians, and drivers alike while minimizing the loss of grand trees in the area. The initial research and traffic study performed by the SCDOT was initiated in 2009 but was shelved by the city of Charleston soon after due to the potential impact of grand trees. The project is back on the table due to federal recommendations for like kind improvements, this project is to be funded from a 2016 half cent sales tax that was assessed to fund various public transportation improvement projects.

This really cannot come soon enough at this busy intersection. Traffic on Riverland Dr. is very fast and causes the steady vehicle traffic coming from Central Park Rd to backup and ultimately forces drivers turning onto Central Park to make a dangerous and hasty transition.

Photos from the presentation show 3 models with different variations of a “roundabout”, sidewalk improvements, green space and other aesthetic features. We can expect to find official updates on Charleston Counties official website for this project in coming days.

This corner has seen quite a few privately sponsored changes in the last year as well.  Two new 2 bedroom 2 bathroom 872 sqft properties, 1979 + 1981 Central Park Rd. acquired in 2016 for $45,000 each and redeveloped into two tall and narrow corner properties we have heard referred to recently as the “stilt houses”.  With this side of Folly Rd in James Island coming in high demand these two properties sold rather quickly for $257k and $244k respectively.  Another developer noticing the demand has started development right next door on 710 RIverland Dr.  This property has not been listed but with the parcel being slightly larger than the aforementioned properties looks like this will be a slightly larger single family residence.

Lots of development happening rapidly at this intersection, and with the new pedestrian improvements this busy intersection is going to look very different very soon.  Leave a comment with your feedback on the improvements. 

Have a tip on new development happening in your part of town?  Submit the deets and photos to hello@allchs.com