Advocacy group calling for bike lane on King Street

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) - One Lowcountry advocacy group is calling to add a bike lane to King Street in downtown Charleston after the street was ranked within the state’s top 10 most dangerous roadways for vulnerable users like bicyclists and pedestrians.

Charleston Moves, a Lowcountry nonprofit, is encouraging bikers and other community members to sign a petition to add a buffered bike lane along King Street.

Katie Zimmerman, the Executive Director of Charleston Moves, said folks often ask them why King street can’t be safer for pedestrians.

Zimmerman said, based on crash data, the current road layout isn’t safe for drivers either. According to that data from SCDOT’s road safety audit, the majority of crashes along King Street are sideswipes.

To improve road safety, Zimmerman said Charleston moves would like to see a buffered bike lane, bike-friendly grates, a resurfaced road and plenty of room for bikers and pedestrians at intersections

And, now is more important than ever for these improvements. The Lowcountry Rapid Transit system will be running down Meeting Street and Calhoun Street, which Zimmerman expects to cause more and more bicyclists to begin relying on King Street.

“I think the more protected bike lanes we can have, where it makes sense, where the road can fit it, where it makes sense for traffic patterns and is contextually appropriate, I think that’s a really wonderful thing and it’s going to help folks, not just in the immediate term but in the long term. We really need to be providing this space for folks to be safe,” Zimmerman said.

SCDOT held a public meeting in August where they presented proposed concept safety plans for King Street. You can find the public meeting materials here.

For more information about SCDOT’s road safety audit and proposed safety improvements, click here.

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