Planner: Coleman solely designed for automobile

Coleman Boulevard, Mount Pleasant's first main street, widened in 1956, when gas prices averaged 30 cents a gallon. Designers put in a sidewalk, but there was no shade, no crosswalks, really no safety.

Michael Robertson, a Mount Pleasant planner, said the road was designed solely with the automobile in mind.

"The past 50 years there's been no way to safely cross the street," Robertson said.

Planners at the town of Mount Pleasant are working to make the roadway more pedestrian friendly, but it's been a long journey.

Decorative traffic signals, mast arms, have gone up along Coleman Boulevard at the intersections of Pelzer Drive, Mill Street, Houston Northcutt Road and just before Live Oak Drive, and utilities have moved underground, part of a plan that Robertson said was mapped out 10 years ago.

Last week Mount Pleasant council members discussed a new Coleman Boulevard Revitalization Master Plan for the district that builds on the pedestrian friendly plan and expands on it. It allows developers to build higher than before and encourages buildings to move from the back of the lot to the front in an attempt to slow traffic down. But council voted to send that plan back to a citizens committee for further study on bike lanes.

Robertson's portion of the Coleman plan is still moving forward. Decorative crosswalks will go in this fall. Street corners from Live Oak Drive to Fairmont Avenue are scheduled to receive decorative lights and underground utilities by the time Moultrie Middle School opens in the fall of 2009.

Along Shem Creek, palm trees line the sidewalks, creating a buffer between traffic that is supposed to pass by at 35 mph and pedestrians who would use the sidewalk. Shade trees have also been planted along the sidewalks. The power lines that once criss-crossed the sky over the bridge are gone, but it's not obvious to everyone, Robertson said as he stood at the intersection of Whilden Street and Coleman Boulevard.

"It doesn't look like we did anything, but that was the goal," Roberston said.

Reach Jessica Johnson at 745-5860 or jjohnson@postandcourier.com.