Q. Dear John,
We have 8-foot-wide off road multi-use pathways on both sides of two 4-lane county roads (pathway, buffer, 2 lanes, central median, 2 lanes, buffer, pathway). Buckwalter Parkway is about 6 miles long and Bluffton Parkway is about 8 miles long.

 

The Bluffton Town Council,  Bluffton Town Manager and Bluffton Chief of Police in South Carolina are seriously considering allowing golf carts on the Bluffton, Buckwalter and McCracken Circle pathways. Greater Bluffton Pathways believes this would be unsafe for those children and families who are biking and walking to school each day.

Karen Heitman
Greater Bluffton Pathways
Bluffton, SC

Karen, I asked Tom Dodds in the South Carolina state bicycle/pedestrian offce if he had an opinion on this situation.  Tom’s answer:

It was kind of awkward for us to weigh in on an issue on that rare road in South Carolina that does not belong to SCDOT, but we did generally. The shared use path fit the definition in the state code of laws to legally be considered a sidewalk (not a stretch–area beside road for pedestrians). The golf carts fit the definition for motor vehicles, and so we reminded the town that state law says no motor vehicles on sidewalks except at the driveways across the sidewalk. Also these particular paths were not federally funded.

Thomas Dodds, P.E.
Pedestrian and Bicycle Engineer, SCDOT

Karen, I hope that helps. 

JW