Here we go again...no road diet for Old Buncombe

I have been out of town for most of this month, so I am a bit late to post about this. I assume that many of you reading this blog have heard by now that plans for a road diet (with bike lanes) on Old Buncombe Road have recently been scrapped. If you don’t know the story, I encourage you to check out Greenville Spinners Advocacy Chairperson Frank Mansbach’s latest advocacy update, where he references an excellent article in the Greenville News written by Ben Szobody. Also check out Frank’s well written op-ed piece that was published in the Sunday Greenville News.


The proposed road diet plan had much support from nearby neighborhoods, and a petition that started last fall had many signatures. In an effort to help the SCDOT, Greenville County Transportation Planners prepared the re-striping plans for the project before the July 1st deadline, and it appeared that the project was on track and ready to go until about 2 weeks ago when County Councilman Willis Meadows, along with SC Representative Dwight Loftis and SC Senator Mike Fair, intervened. Based on his strong opposition to the Complete Streets Resolution a couple of years ago, it certainly doesn’t surprise me that Meadows opposed the project. What did surprise me a bit was the fact that this small group was able to quickly derail the plan even though it was something that the people living in the area wanted. Meadows and the others were afraid that the road diet would slow traffic and hurt commerce, but I haven’t seen any facts to support those claims. Actually, road diet projects like E. North Street or Main Street in Travelers Rest have not slowed traffic significantly and have had a positive effect on commerce. If you travel on the section of Old Buncombe between Cedar Lane and Furman, you probably realize how ridiculous that ‘detriment to commerce’ concern really is. Old Buncombe is a perfect example of a poorly designed road that could benefit from a low cost revitalization project, especially one that would improve safety for all road users.


It is easy to point the finger at Meadows, Fair, and Loftis, but is not just politicians who are standing in the way of making Old Buncombe, and many of our other roads, safer and better for pedestrians, cyclists, and drivers. John Edwards is our 4th district SCDOT commissioner (an appointed position, not an elected one). In Szobody’s July 7th Greenville News article on the subject, Mr. Edwards is quoted as saying, “I think we’re tasked with keeping the roads to move people, and trucks and cars. I don’t think it’s a place for bicycles because I think it’s dangerous.” When asked about the state law prohibiting cycling on the sidewalk and giving bicyclists the right to use the road way, Edwards responded that the law “gives mopeds a right to the road too, but that does not make it any safer.” I suppose one could assume that Edwards also believes that small cars are not very safe either. Perhaps everyone on Old Buncombe should drive a large SUV, or better yet a tank, to protect themselves and their families… all those other people on the road be damned. It is quite disturbing that someone who is tasked with the job of building and maintaining safe roads would completely discount groups of LEGAL road users based on his personal bias. Based on my past experiences with SCDOT though, Mr. Edward’s comments don’t really surprise me. His ‘survival of the fittest… i.e. biggest’ attitude toward road design may explain why our roads in South Carolina are among the least safe in the nation (for pedestrians, cyclists, and drivers). Unfortunately, his attitude seems to be pervasive throughout the SCDOT. When faced with a plan involving a road diet or bike lanes, they always point out that state guidelines require wide (often 12’) travel lanes, but they ignore the fact that other states with MUCH better safety records than ours routinely stripe narrower travel lanes, which tend to slow motor vehicle traffic and save lives. Even if you take bicycles and pedestrians out of the equation, the SCDOT has a terrible track record in creating safe roads, so maybe it is time for them to start being held accountable for their bad decisions and poor road design practices.

If the elected officials who intervened or the engineers at the SCDOT really do have any legitimate safety concerns about the proposed road diet on Old Buncombe, I certainly haven’t heard them. I think that they owe an explanation to the public though as to why they don’t seem to want to improve the safety of our public roads. Based on 2009 statistics, only Montana ranks higher than South Carolina in traffic fatalities per vehicle miles traveled (and Arkansas, West Virginia, and Louisiana have high fatality rates similar to SC). If our elected and appointed public officials do not feel the need to address that problem and improve traffic safety in South Carolina, then maybe it is time for a major change. Though bicycling is the focus of this blog, the road safety problem in this state goes beyond that. I believe that there is a fundamental lack of concern for safety on our roads which leads to transportation infrastructure that is among the least safe in the entire U.S. Until the SCDOT and others are held accountable, that will never change.