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Thursday night, the Department of Transportation asks for input getting folks together at a James Island Middle School.
The D.O.T. is offering around 20 choices and while there has been some opposition there are some who can't wait to see the extension of 526 because all the traffic is driving them indoors.
For 29 years, Ledlie Bell has taken the same trips from home, but the way she gets there has drastically changed.
“I can’t get out of my neighborhood safely,” said Bell. “We chose to live in town many of us, so our kids could walk, bike, get around on their own, be self sufficient, go to the public library, go to the bank, go to the shopping center and my neighbors kids are not able to do that.”
Neighbors like 12-year-old Lawrence and his mother Lotta Bentley.
“It's for my son Lawrence, who can't go to the library, cannot go to the ice cream store, Earth Fare, or all the opportunities across the street, that are just a few yards away, because the traffic is too busy and too fast,” said Lotta Bentley.
“I haven’t even tried, because there’s too much traffic. I’d just like to be able to get some ice cream whenever I want to and there not be as much traffic, because it would easier,” said Lawrence Bentley.
Easier and safer for neighbors like Lois Ann Dought, who's had a close call trying to cross Folly Road herself.
“When we were walking to the dog groomers, she saw this car and car came speeding by and barely hit the curb and it was so frightening seeing this blur of something go by you,” said Dought.
The dangerous traffic, enough to make these neighbors want to see a 526 expansion, hoping that road leads them to a solution and safer neighborhood.
Many of those opposed to the 526 expansion would rather see a grid system of streets, saying the extension would attract too much development and be costly.
Similar public hearings will be held until January, but a final decision will not be made until 2010.
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