Nexton residents fight for urgently needed lights and audible crosswalks

SUMMERVILLE, S.C. (WCSC) - Summerville residents and many others who frequent Nexton Parkway are advocating for improvements to the busy road.

They say the parkway is underdeveloped for the number of people moving to the Summerville area, with a group of more than 400 people coming together to sign a petition demanding upgrades.

Nexton residents say they are demanding more traffic lights to increase safety and the flow of traffic in the area, along with the fight for audible crosswalks.

Typically, when there isn’t a stop light when crossing the road; people are told to press the crosswalk button, look to your left, look to your right, and then it’s safe to cross.

But for many living off Nexton Parkway and one particular Nexton resident, it isn’t that easy.

“I’m visually impaired and so I don’t drive... I think what’s surprising is how very small my world has become,” Angelica Wilson says.

Wilson uprooted her life in Massachusetts to live somewhere she could be independent, somewhere walkable.

Wilson decided on Nexton, a mixed-use community in Summerville.

“Nexton is all about being walkable and golf-cartable,” Wilson says. When asked if she has seen that, she said she has not.

Afraid in her own community because of the lack of accessible and walkable facilities for the visually impaired combined with a busy Nexton Parkway with no audible crosswalks, Wilson says she feels like a prisoner in her own town.

“That feels really defeating and really, like, awful, but it’s the truth that is how I feel,” Wilson says.

That feeling?

“Trapped. That I feel like I’m not able to support my daughter in certain ways,” Wilson says.

But Nexton community members and those who frequent the roads there say Wilson isn’t the only one who feels the panic of crossing Nexton Parkway.

“Lots of traffic, lots of tailgating, lots of illegal maneuvering, inability to make left-hand turns, excessive levels of speed. I can go on and on and on and on” Nexton resident Jen Jones said.

“We want peace. We just want a nice neighborhood,” Barbra Chilton, another Nexton resident says.

Chilton is organizing a petition for hundreds of community members looking for more stoplights.

“I actually have a list of over 400 residents and that just doesn’t, you know, even capture all of them,” Barbra says. “We’re just asking for the builders to provide us with the safety that I think our neighborhood deserves”

Those builders, Brookfield Properties, have presented plans in the past including the addition of stop lights at four locations along Nexton Parkway, some dating back to spring 2022.

Live 5 reached out to them regarding the progress and was told only one of these stoplights is permanent and functioning so far. As for the other four, they are either not operational yet or still in the planning process:

• The permanent signal at Brighton Park Blvd and Nexton Parkway is installed and operational.
• The permanent signal at Cross Park and Nexton Parkway is installed and will be operational by October.
• The permanent signal at North Creek Blvd and Nexton Parkway is in permitting process with Berkeley County. 
• The traffic signal at Nexton Parkway and Sigma Drive is in permitting process with both SCDOT and the Town of Summerville.

When asked about the delay, they responded with a list of the process when implementing a traffic light.

“Even if there’s a way to put up something temporary until the permanent improvements, improvements have been made, then, you know, it’s worth somebody’s life,” Chilton says.

One temporary light was installed and replaced with a permanent light at Brighton Park, Brookfield Properties says that temporary signals also go through a heavy planning phase and were particularly useful when there were delays in production during COVID-19 times.

Nexton residents also pay a so-called “Nexton Fee” that is said to include “Other transportation improvements, including but not limited to turn lanes, traffic signals, signage, curbs and more,”

When asked, Brookfield Properties said Nexton Parkway road improvements are not included in the Nexton Fee.

In a statement responding to questions about why there are no audible crosswalks anywhere along Nexton Parkway, Berkeley County said, “At this time, the County is looking into the feasibility, requirements and standards of audible crosswalks to increase accessibility of County-maintained road systems.”

Now, questions remain, and residents want answers.

“Why is the development of necessary and lifesaving infrastructure not developing at the rate that this community is developing?” Jones says.

“What is the issue? Like that allows so much access and safety for everyone else here,” Wilson says.

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