Advocates call for serious prioritization of bike lanes after cyclist’s death

MOUNT PLEASANT, SC (WCSC) – After a cyclist died as a result of a crash at a Mount Pleasant intersection, advocates are calling on officials to prioritize plans to improve traffic conditions between cyclists and pedestrians.

A 64-year-old Mount Pleasant man was struck while riding his bicycle in the area of ​​Rifle Range Road and Ben Sawyer Boulevard on Sunday.

Although Charleston Moves advocate Katie Zimmerman praises Mount Pleasant for its planned network of multi-use trails, she says accidents like this one are preventable.

“It’s a national epidemic, but we have a solution. Everyone needs to pull together and work together to make our roads and bridges safer for vulnerable road users so that there are no more deaths and injuries… It’s heartbreaking and exhausting every time,” Zimmerman says.

Zimmerman praises the city of Mount Pleasant for proactively investing time and money on important improvements like Mount Pleasant Way. The master plan for nearly 50 miles of multi-use trails would connect large parts of the city like a linear park separated from the street, ideally as an eight- to 10-foot-wide concrete path.

“They are typically among the first entities to develop detailed plans to make biking and walking safer. They also provide the resources to not only create those plans, but also invest in applying for grants to install that infrastructure, or they invest in their budget to actually install the infrastructure themselves,” says Zimmerman.

But she fears many of these projects are held up in the public hearing phase and haven’t even broken ground because of opposition. Zimmerman says feedback is important and legitimate concerns should be brought to the attention of those in charge. But as with most projects, she expects a compromise to advance public safety.

“We as a community need to find a way to not just pay lip service to the importance of safety improvements, but also find a good compromise in design that satisfies as many people as possible. It may not make everyone happy, but it will address everyone’s concerns. And we need to do that faster,” says Zimmerman.

While detailed plans, maps and examples are available online for the Mount Pleasant Way project, Zimmerman points out that much of the work has yet to have a firm schedule. No schedules are presented on the Mount Pleasant Way website.

In the 2024-2025 state budget, officials have allocated $2.3 million for the Mathis Ferry Trail portion of the Mount Pleasant Way Master Plan. In early July, city construction officials said the project would have to go out to bid before a start date could be given, and that construction would then take up to 12 months.

Zimmerman says those plans continue to look promising, but it could be a while before the portion of the trail at the intersection of Ben Sawyer and Rifle Range comes to fruition. She hopes no more lives are lost and that the projects remain a priority for the city.

“So my advice would be, until we actually get that safe infrastructure in place, not just at this intersection but everywhere we need it, everyone needs to show a little empathy. That’s the only way we’re going to get through this,” Zimmerman says.

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