{"id":797512,"date":"2026-08-01T14:15:09","date_gmt":"2026-08-01T14:15:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/797512\/"},"modified":"2026-08-01T14:15:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-01T14:15:09","slug":"an-800000-plan-to-protect-charleston-golfers-from-traffic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/797512\/","title":{"rendered":"An $800,000 plan to protect Charleston golfers from traffic"},"content":{"rendered":"

JAMES ISLAND \u2014 On a sunny Wednesday morning, Charleston’s Municipal Golf Course was busy with mostly retirement-age golfers, all of whom had to cross four dangerous lanes of Maybank Highway<\/a> to get from the ninth hole to the 10th tee.<\/p>\n

“My blood pressure drops 15 points when I get across,” Barry Teagle said after rolling across the busy road in a golf cart.<\/p>\n

“It’s death-defying,” said Jim Kelechi, who had crossed minutes earlier. “They need to do something.”<\/p>\n

State law requires drivers to stop when someone is in a crosswalk, but golf course patrons say sometimes cars do and sometimes they don’t. That\u2019s the take-your-life-in-your-hands fear golfers riding in carts or crossing on foot face every day at the Muni.<\/p>\n

But Charleston County aims to remedy the situation with an $800,000 project to improve safety, which should be done before the end of the year. The state’s gas tax is funding the effort.<\/p>\n

Key to the project is installation of a “HAWK” signal<\/a>, a “high-intensity activated crosswalk” with multiple red flashing lights that can be activated by those who need to cross. It would be the first of its kind in Charleston County.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt kind of looks like a traffic signal,” said Alex Owsiak, the county’s capital programs manager. “Hopefully it will help golfers to not get hit.”<\/p>\n

\"HAWK<\/p>\n

An example of the type of pedestrian-activated traffic signal Charleston County plans to install on Maybank Highway at a Municipal Golf Course crossing.<\/p>\n

Charleston County\/Provided<\/p>\n

Neither the county nor the golf course were aware of any accidents involving golfers in recent years.<\/p>\n

In theory, traffic wouldn’t have to stop more frequently because cars are already required to stop when the crosswalk is in use. But a particular challenge, some golfers said, is that with four lanes of traffic some people stop while others don’t.<\/p>\n

“You kind of have to wait until all four lanes are clear,” course Manager Marshall Ormand said. “We’ve been pretty fortunate there hasn’t been anything major.”<\/p>\n

\"Muni<\/p>\n

The 10th tee sits on the opposite side of Maybank Highway, which golfers must cross to play some of the holes at the Charleston Municipal Golf Course on James Island.<\/p>\n

Grace Beahm Alford\/Staff<\/p>\n

An average of more than 41,000 vehicles<\/a> travel that stretch of Maybank Highway daily, a number that’s been rising fast due to development on Johns Island<\/a>. All of the traffic between Johns Island and James Island passes through the golf course.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe course manager we spoke to last year said there have been some close calls,” said Owsiak.<\/p>\n

When the municipal course was created in 1929, the area was lightly populated and traffic was not an issue. Today, the golf course sits on all four sides of a very busy intersection<\/a>, where Maybank Highway and Riverland Drive meet near the foot of the Paul J. Gelegotis Bridge to Johns Island.<\/p>\n

\"Muni<\/p>\n

Frank Dudek, working as a course ranger, waits to cross Maybank Highway at the Charleston Municipal Golf Course, Thursday, July 30, 2026, on James Island.<\/p>\n

Grace Beahm Alford\/Staff<\/p>\n

Crossing the highway further down Maybank Highway toward Johns Island was also a hazard years ago. Construction of that taller, four-lane bridge over the Stono River in the early 2000s prompted the city to spend about $2 million to build a tunnel under the road so golfers could safely cross near the foot of the bridge.<\/p>\n

“Before they put in the tunnel it was the same thing down there,” said golfer Ken Martin. “People come whizzing down that bridge.”<\/p>\n

More than 50,000 rounds of golf are played on the 120-acre course yearly, according to the city<\/a>. The property was given to Charleston with the stipulation that it would always be a municipal golf course.<\/p>\n

The city requested the road safety improvements, which Charleston County needed to approve because counties manage a portion of South Carolina’s gas tax funds.<\/p>\n

The project officially began the week of July 27 and includes reworking the entrance and exit to the golf course and sidewalk improvements.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Details of the safety improvements planned at the golf cart crossing on Maybank Highway. <\/p>\n

Charleston County\/Provided<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JAMES ISLAND \u2014 On a sunny Wednesday morning, Charleston’s Municipal Golf Course was busy with mostly retirement-age golfers,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":797513,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[71],"tags":[338440,338444,338442,427,338443,338441,99],"class_list":["post-797512","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-charleston-municipal-golf-course","tag-charleston-road-improvements","tag-crosswalk-safety","tag-golf","tag-golf-cart-safety","tag-maybank-highway-traffic","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/797512","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=797512"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/797512\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/797513"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=797512"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=797512"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=797512"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}