Store manager along Robert Grissom Parkway hopes to see improvements to ‘dangerous' intersection
FASTSIGNS assistant manager Blaire Justen said after working for the business right next to the intersection near Highway 501 for five years, she has seen some horrific accidents. She vividly remembers one fatality.
'I remember a few years ago, it was a motorcyclist and he wasn't wearing a helmet and golly,' Justen said. 'All the time there were crashes . . . brains on the road with that motorcyclist, it's horrific.'
She said the intersection is so dangerous she avoids it at all costs.
'We will go out of our way up Seaboard to hit something with an actual light because coming out of it, it's just not worth it. We've seen people die,' she said. 'Every new hire that we have, I tell them to avoid that intersection at all costs.'
A drop-in public information meeting took place Thursday with SCDOT to discuss improvements on the intersection. The intersection was picked through SCDOT's Pedestrian and Bicycle Action Plan. Although the plans for the project aren't final, the elements proposed include the following:
High Visibility Crosswalks
ADA Ramps
Leading Pedestrian Intervals
Countdown Signal Heads
New Pavement Markings
Intersection Improvements
Pedestrian Crossings
Access Management Practices in areas with a high frequency of crashes.
Justen said these improvements are needed to keep the community safe.
'Not only do you have the traffic coming both ways, but you have U-turns and blind corners. People are going so fast,' she said. 'Something needs to happen.'
Justen said accidents at this intersection happen so frequently it seems as if law enforcement isn't surprised anymore. She's thankful law enforcement handles each accident quickly, but says they shouldn't be happening in the first place.
'Whenever an accident happens — which at this point is once a month, once every two months, we call the police and we say 'It happened again' And they're like, 'Really?' And we're like, 'yes,'' she said. 'Because we can hear the crash, we're back there, we hear metal. We all run out just to make sure everybody's OK.'
Justen said not that long ago there was an accident just feet away from the store, coming onto the sidewalk and through the bushes. She said if there was a company car parked there it would've been hit badly.
Justen is originally from Indianapolis, so she said she knows busy intersections. But this is one, she says, is no joke. She said with more people moving to the coast, the intersection needs improvements as soon as possible.
'It is really starting to get a lot more residential traffic as well. So the traffic has just increased exponentially and I think it's relatively low on the list because it's more of like a side street, but more and more people are using it connecting to seaboard and stuff for further north,' she said. 'Something has to be done. There needs to be an actual light with the flow of traffic that we currently have.'
Justen said many of the accidents involve children, and the business has a shop dog that will go out to check on those in the accident. She said she brings her dog to help comfort those involved in the crash after reading that it helps with trauma victims.
Construction is tentatively set to take place in the fall of 2026.
'Hopefully enough has happened that they're finally like, 'fine, we'll do something,'' Justen said.
If you did not attend Thursday's drop-in meeting but would like to voice your input on the intersection, you can do so until Feb. 21 by clicking here.
* * *
Gabby Jonas joined the News13 team as a multimedia journalist in April 2024. She is from Columbus, Ohio, and graduated from Kent State University in May 2023. Follow Gabby on X, formerly Twitter, Facebook or Instagram, and read more of her work here.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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