Charleston citizens voice concerns about East Bay Street to city council

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCBD) – People who live along East Bay Street say they’ve been asking for changes to be made to the busy roadway for years, and city officials I heard from say they’d like to address those concerns, but they can only do so much because it’s a state road.

“I see the changes on the Eastside,” Eastside community member Joseph Watson said. “I also see the need on the Eastside.”

Eastside community members are looking for change along East Bay Street after a woman in a wheelchair was hit and killed last week.

“The lady was killed by accident,” Watson said. “I know her because every morning, when I walk the Peninsula, she’s outside.”

Watson has lived on the Eastside for more than 60 years and says he’s mentioned pedestrian safety concerns along East Bay Street to the city years ago.

“Over six years ago,” he said, “we brought it to the department, Mr. Somerville, and had a meeting about the Eastside and what we needed to see.”

Watson says no action was taken then, however, and now he’s hoping the community continuing to raise awareness about last week’s fatal incident will start to change that.

“We got to do something,” he said. “Will you apply yourself, or do I take the fault for what happened because we didn’t get him to realize the concerns of the community?”

And their advocacy seems to already be paying off.

“We sent a letter to the department of transportation asking them to basically just do a review,” Charleston’s department of traffic and transportation director Robert Somerville said, “a study of that area.”

That review would allow the South Carolina Department of Transportation (SCDOT) to assess whether upgrades are needed on East Bay.

“If there’s a lighting improvement,” Somerville said, “some sight-visibility issues, improvements to the sidewalks and potentially adding in another crossing.”

The request for a review of East Bay Street was submitted by the city on Tuesday. News 2 has reached out to SCDOT for comment and are awaiting a response.