COASTAL OBSERVER

A project intended to limit left turns onto Highway 17 at Litchfield Beach added one to give emergency vehicles access to the beachfront neighborhoods. But residents and property owners still have concerns that the effort to improve traffic safety will reduce safety in their community.

The project was the top priority in a study of the Highway 17 corridor along Waccamaw Neck that was adopted by Georgetown County in 2021. The initial proposal from the engineering firm AECOM removed the median cuts between the Salt Marsh Cove entrance on the east and the Crooked Oak Drive entrance to Litchfield Country Club on the west. That included the four-way intersection at Litchfield Drive, the only route to the beach.

Curb cuts with traffic signals were proposed near the YMCA and at Crooked Oak to allow U-turns.

The project was approved for funding through the Grand Strand Area Transportation Study in 2023. 

The state Department of Transportation hired the firm of Mead & Hunt to design the project.  Officials from both met last week with local officials and community members to present the current design in advance of a public meeting scheduled for May 19 at Waccamaw Intermediate School.

The plan shown at the preliminary meeting includes a left-turn lane on the southbound side of Highway 17 at Litchfield Drive. A traffic signal will hold northbound traffic to allow drivers to  turn left into Litchfield Beach and to make a right turn coming out.

That curb cut was added to the project at the request of Midway Fire and Rescue, according to Kevin Corrigan, president of the Litchfield Beaches Property Owners Association, who was among the community members at last week’s meeting.

“I applaud Mead & Hunt and S.C. DOT for hearing the feedback,” Corrigan said.

He still doesn’t like the project. While it was acknowledged that it will create an inconvenience for Litchfield Beach, the presentation emphasized that it will have a wider benefit from improved safety and traffic flow on the highway, Corrigan said.

He disagrees.

“It was a terrible plan. It’s still a terrible plan,” he said. “We think it’s worse than an inconvenience. We think there will be safety issues.”

With the Litchfield Inn and the gated communities at Inlet Point, there are about 500 dwellings that will only have one way out of Litchfield Beach, Corrigan said, and that’s north. 

He is concerned that cars stacked up to make a U-turn at the Crooked Oak intersection will block the northbound lane and create more problems.

“We want our left turn back,” Corrigan said.

He also noted that the traffic data for the project was collected in 2019. The engineers plan to update it this summer, but DOT rejected a suggestion to delay the public comment period until the fall.

The loss of the four-way intersection at Litchfield Drive also means that Litchfield Country Club residents won’t be able to get to the beach by golf cart because of the raised median. 

That was an issue raised at last week’s meeting. Planners said they would be “assessing alternatives.”

DOT will hold a drop-in from 5 to 7 p.m. on May 19. Staff will answer questions and take comments. The agency will continue to take comments online until May 29.

There is a project website at projectportal.scdot.org.