Brittlebush ‘speedway’ on Johns Island has neighbors calling for change

JOHNS ISLAND, S.C. (WCSC) - A homeowner living on Johns Island is calling for change saying he sees accidents and drivers speed through his neighborhood.

Neighbors are calling one particular road the Brittlebush “Speedway” and claim the area has gotten very dangerous and they need solutions to manage speeders. Along with high-speed drivers, this neighborhood deals with cut-through traffic to avoid Maybank Highway.

The neighborhood is called Brittlebush Lane in Whitney Lakes and is connected to an adjoining neighborhood. Kent Kise has lived in Whitney Lakes for seven years and lives directly in front of what he calls the Brittlebush Speedway, a straightaway in the neighborhood with no speed limit signs.

Throughout the Whitney Lakes neighborhood, the speed limit is 25 mph. Kise says it’s not uncommon to see cars driving over 50 mph creating many near misses with children, pets and neighbors enjoying the walkways on both sides of Brittlebush Speedway.  

“So, when you get the Maybank traffic you start getting the cut through and people fly through here 40-50 miles an hour on the heavy traffic points in time in the day morning and evening,” Kise says.

Kise is a part of the homeowner association where he says this issue has been discussed on multiple occasions and has yet to come up with any solutions. They’ve even begun petitions for traffic calming devices. There are traffic-calming speed bumps throughout the neighborhood but for some reason none on the straightaway.

“So, we are looking for traffic calming devices whether that be speed humps or the digital display units that are permanent give people a sense of how fast they’re going but we need something here very soon or someone’s going to get seriously injured,” Kise says.

Kise says the speed humps will force a slower speed for drivers and the traffic calming digital display signs are especially effective but permanent speed limit signs are needed the most.

We’re waiting on a response from The South Carolina Department of Transportation on these issues. If you have a road that’s driving you crazy, submit your road concern to Live 5 News.