Dorchester County is pushing ahead with plans to widen Miles Jamison Road between Old Trolley Road and Ladson Road, and the preferred design could force roughly 54 households to relocate. The project aims to ease congestion and improve safety along a corridor that is already busy and expected to get much busier in the coming decades. For residents who have lived and worked along the road for decades, the stakes are deeply personal.
The county's preferred design would widen Miles Jamison Road to a five-lane curb-and-gutter section, according to Live 5 News. The project is officially described as widening and associated intersection improvements of Miles Jamison Road between Old Trolley Road and Ladson Road, according to the Dorchester County Transportation Sales Tax Program, which says the goal is to reduce traffic congestion, improve safety, and accommodate bicyclists and pedestrians. The plan also calls for a 10-foot shared-use bicycle path on one side of the road and an 8-foot sidewalk on the other, per the same report.
Why County Officials Say the Road Needs to Change
Traffic on Miles Jamison Road already ranged from 13,000 to 16,000 vehicles per day in 2023 depending on location along the corridor, according to abcnews4.com. The county's current project is projected to see traffic increase 81% by 2050, the Live 5 News report notes. Back in November 2025, county officials were still weighing both a three-lane option and a five-lane option for the corridor, according to the earlier abcnews4.com report — a conflict with the current reporting that identifies the five-lane design as the preferred alternative moving forward.
There is also some inconsistency in how far the project extends. The county's own project page describes the limits as Old Trolley Road to Ladson Road, while an earlier abcnews4.com report described the widening as extending from Old Trolley Road to U.S. 17A. The project also includes storm drain ponds throughout the corridor to help mitigate stormwater, per the seed report.
Longtime Residents Describe the Personal Cost
For William R. Cummings, a resident and business owner on Miles Jamison Road for 50 years, the widening isn't an abstract planning exercise. He told Live 5 News the widening would take his property and force him to relocate — he owns two homes and a business along the corridor. Sandra Carvalho, who has lived on Miles Jamison Road since 1972, said her trip to downtown Summerville has already stretched from about four minutes to somewhere between 10 and 20 minutes amid the planning and construction pressures on the corridor.
Reporter Mackenzie Kelley's reporting indicates that about 54 residential relocations are currently anticipated under the preferred design, and that the project may also require relocating billboards and sheds along the route. Those numbers reflect the current design concept rather than a finalized acquisition list, and the county has not released a complete map of affected parcels.
Funding Gap Still Looms Over Construction Timeline
The Miles Jamison Road Improvements project is currently funded only through preliminary design, according to the Dorchester County Transportation Sales Tax Program. Construction could begin in 2029 if the project is fully funded, per the Live 5 News report, but Dorchester County is still working to make the project eligible for federal or state grants to help close a funding gap left by the transportation sales tax. The county is also refining the design in an effort to limit impacts on residents, the same report states.
That transportation sales tax, approved by voters in 2022, is a 1% tax collected for 15 years or until $735 million is raised, with $700 million earmarked for transportation improvements and $35 million for greenbelt initiatives, according to the county's transportation program. It's the same funding mechanism behind other corridor projects across the county, including a $34.36 million Ridgeville-area plan involving seven intersections and the realignment of Campbell Thickett Road, which abcnews4.com reported is moving forward with new development-driven assessments beginning in 2027.
Public Comment Period and Legal Protections
The county held its second public information meeting on the preferred design alternative on Thursday, and will accept additional public comments on the project for the next 30 days. An earlier meeting in November 2025 drew 213 attendees and generated 131 comments over the following month, according to the county's project page, signaling sustained public interest in how the corridor takes shape.
Dorchester County has already issued an eminent domain notice tied to the project, authorizing surveys and data collection for planning, design, property acquisition and construction along Miles Jamison Road between Old Trolley Road and Ladson Road, including up to 700 feet in either direction on intersecting roads. The county says affected property owners will be contacted directly by its right-of-way team if acquisition becomes necessary. Residents required to relocate for a transportation sales tax project may be eligible for help finding a new home, reimbursement for closing and moving costs, and comparable replacement housing assistance, with protections under the federal Uniform Relocation Assistance and Real Property Acquisition Policies Act of 1970, as amended, according to the county.
