Wade Hampton Boulevard is set to receive a major overhaul to improve the corridor’s safety and connectivity.
According to the city of Greenville, the corridor sees an average of 29,000 cars a day. An average of around 60 vehicular crashes occur per year.
The improvement project will focus on 1.5 miles along Wade Hampton Boulevard from Church Street to Pleasantburg Drive. Goals for the project include improving safety, reducing congestion, traffic calming, adding protected bike lanes, widening sidewalks and more.
Greenville City Councilmember John DeWorken said the project aims to transform Wade Hampton from an industrial corridor into a neighborhood boulevard that spurs economic development.
Almost a year after the project’s first public meeting, new conceptual plans for the roadway were presented during a public meeting May 15. The city created these plans in partnership with AECOM, an infrastructure consulting firm, and the South Carolina Department of Transportation. SCDOT, which owns the corridor, is also completing a separate safety improvement project along Wade Hampton Boulevard.
Proposed plans
The main proposed change to Wade Hampton Boulevard is reducing the number of traffic lanes from seven to five. The lane reduction would allow for landscaped medians, protected bike lanes and wider sidewalks to be added along the corridor. Crosswalk enhancements would also be completed to improve connectivity for pedestrians and bicyclists.
“The city has adopted a complete streets policy. We want this road to function for all the users of the road,” said Clint Link, the city’s director of engineering services.
The project also proposes reconfiguring the signalized intersection at North Church Street and Wade Hampton Boulevard to optimize efficiency and safety. The intersection changes would help to handle the traffic flow, improve pedestrian safety and slow cars heading to downtown.
Several reduced conflict intersections are proposed to be added throughout the corridor. Link explained these signalized intersections are designed to reduce the number of crossing movements vehicles can make.
“The safety benefits are tremendous,” Link said. “We see nationally, statistics are proven through project studies, reduction of fatal crashes by 70% through these intersection designs.”
With this strategy, the plan proposes that cars turning onto Wade Hampton from a side streets will only be allowed to turn right onto the corridor. Other suggested reduced conflict intersections along the corridor include adding six, signalized U-turns and six left-turn intersections.
“Some of it will be a little less convenient for us, frankly, not being able to take left-hand turns. But with some of the near-miss accidents and everything we have seen, I think it will be very beneficial in the long term,” said Jennifer McClure, a member of the Highview Townes Homeowners Association.
Another key part of the improvement project is realigning White Oak Road to slow drivers, discourage cut-thru traffic and improve pedestrian safety. With the reconfiguration, traffic heading to and from Wade Hampton Boulevard will only be able to turn right in and out at the side street intersection.
Lonnie Polson, senior pastor at White Oak Baptist Church, said the reconfiguration of White Oak would be advantageous for the church. The road currently runs behind the church’s property.
Moving forward
The city is collecting public comment on the conceptual plans for the Wade Hampton Boulevard improvement project. Residents can submit comments online at www.greenvillesc.gov/2136. The feedback will then be incorporated into the final design plans for the project.
Link explained the White Oak Road realignment will be the first phase of the improvement project. Designs for the street reconfiguration are anticipated to be completed in 2024 to begin construction in 2025.
Phase two of the improvement project will be completing the lane reduction and adding reduced conflict intersections along the roadway. The design process for this part of the project will be done throughout 2024 and 2025. Link said more funding still needs to be secured but construction is aimed to begin in late 2025 and early 2026.
Sidewalk improvements along Wade Hampton Boulevard will be the project’s final phase. For this to occur, the city will identify areas to improve sidewalks along the corridor while working with property owners on access management.
Wade Hampton statistics
The annual average daily traffic along Wade Hampton Boulevard is 29,000 in 2024. The daily traffic in 2044 is projected to increase to 36,000. Almost 60 crashes occur per year along this corridor.
Source: city of Greenville
