Bike lane, other roadway improvements may be coming to King Street

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCBD) – Charleston Moves’s executive director Katie Zimmerman says she is in favor of putting the bike lane on King Street because right now, it’s simply not safe for cyclists.

“They are not safe,” Zimmerman said. “They are quite unsafe.”

That’s how Zimmerman describes several roads while cycling through the Peninsula.

“I bike nearly everywhere,” she said, “so I’m biking these corridors quite a bit, but I’m also cognizant of the fact that it is not safe.”

She’s optimistic that will change soon after an assessment by the South Carolina Department of Transportation (SCDOT) was conducted on Peninsula roads.

“They identified four corridors on the Charleston Peninsula as some of the top deadliest corridors for people walking and biking in the state,” Zimmerman said.

King Street, below Line Street, was one of them. Now, after developing concepts for improvements to those roads, and receiving public input last year, SCDOT may look to add a bike lane to King Street between Calhoun and Broad Streets, something Zimmerman says could keep cyclists and pedestrians out of harm’s way.

“I think it would protect a lot of people from future injury,” she said. “We’ve heard from a lot of folks who have been hit on King Street bicycling in the past.”

SCDOT will work with the City of Charleston before any plans are set in motion. Zimmerman hopes those discussions and approval of the proposed plan happens soon since it calls for improving other roads on the Peninsula as well.

“On King,” she said, “on Meeting Street, on Calhoun and on St. Philip, so the longer this gets deferred, the longer this gets drawn out, it’s not just the bike lane that’s effected, it’s all of these other really helpful safety improvements.”

SCDOT will provide News 2 with more information on this project in the coming days. The City of Charleston says they are going to wait until a later date to comment on this project.

CLICK HERE TO READ FULL ARTICLE