On Tuesday, a ribbon-cutting ceremony was held by local politicos to mark the completion of the Bees Ferry Road widening project between Highways 17 and 61.
The project, begun in January 2012, was supposed to have been finished in the spring, but weather and change-orders pushed back the completion until this week, according to officials.
In addition to the extra time taken, the cost of the project climbed $7 million from its original $32 million budget. The additional cost will be absorbed by Charleston County and funded in part by a local transportation sales tax.
The widening project is part of a multi-stage process to improve Bees Ferry as it feeds into and out of a yet-to-be-built traffic circle at its intersection with Glenn McConnell Parkway.
That project can begin in earnest now that the widening has been completed on the 4.5-mile stretch of road.
The complete project swelled Bees Ferry from its original two lanes to four lanes for much of its length, but as the road nears the planned interchange with the parkway, it jumps to six lanes wide.
In addition to various streetscaping elements like medians, the intersection has a new stoplight, as well as new turn lanes along Bees Ferry. The project took care to preserve as many grand trees along its route, as well as increasing pedestrian and bike traffic along its sides.
Motorists coming down Savannah Highway will be able to take advantage of a new free-flow right-turn lane, one of many attempts to handle the increasing number of vehicle trips along the road that causes major traffic snafus at peak hours.
Motorists may encounter further traffic tangles as construction on the traffic circle continues, but pains have been taken to schedule as much of the work as possible at night, as was done with the widening project, to keep commute times down.

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