Need

Segment 1 of US 17/ACE Basin Parkway is a two-lane ditch section with narrow to no outside shoulders and Segment 2A is a two-lane section with narrow to no outside shoulders and marshland on both sides.

According to data collected between 1997 and 2003, twenty percent of the traffic on US 17 between Garden’s Corner and Jacksonboro is truck traffic, many of which are container trucks traveling between the ports of Charleston, SC, and I-95.

The percentage of trucks is approximately double that of other US Primary routes in South Carolina and almost the same as many Interstates in the State. The fatality rate data on US 17, between Gardens Corner and Jacksonboro, SC was 77% higher than the fatality rate reported on the Interstate System.

This fatality rate on the segment of US 17 between Gardens Corner and Jacksonboro is 2.3 times higher than that of the multi-lane portions of US 17 and 1.5 times that of other US Primary routes in South Carolina.

Between 1997 and 2005, there were 983 total crashes. Of these total crashes, almost 6% resulted in fatalities, with 33 persons killed, and approximately 30% of the accidents resulted in injuries.

The copy and figures outlining this project’s need were found in SCDOT’s September 2005 Environmental Assessment 1.0 Purpose and Need for Action.

Background

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Prior to this widening project, US 17 ACE Basin between Gardens Corner and Jacksonboro was recognized as one of the nation’s most deadly highways in a 2005 assessment. Sadly, 33 fatalities occurred on this section of the two-lane road between the years of 1997 and February 2005.

Some of these deaths have been marked by friends and families with white crosses within the Right of Way along the roadway. Widening plans for US 17 ACE Basin Segment 1 include the construction of safer, wider shoulders and embankments along either side of the roadway.

If you have information or questions about these memorials, please contact Chris Hernandez, SCDOT Project Manager at (888) 692-9986 or through this site’s contact page.
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March 2008
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