River Landing Drive Is Closed Until Spring: What's Changing on Daniel Island's Busiest Corner

Talk about fixing the corner of Seven Farms Drive and River Landing Drive started in 2015. Since October 2, the actual fix has taken the form of barriers. The City of Charleston's road closure feed lists River Landing Drive as fully closed between Seven Farms Drive and Pier View Street for roundabout construction, with the closure set to run until 5 p.m. on March 31, 2027.

That date is about five months away. Over the same weeks, the boardwalk along River Landing Drive is also closed. Taken together, the two projects cut off the commute through this corner and the walk along it at the same time. The roundabout's design centers on people crossing on foot, and for now those same walkers have lost the most routes.

The Dates Worth Writing on the Fridge

Three separate closures are now overlapping around the waterfront end of the island. Each has its own timeline and its own sponsor.

The boardwalk is the shortest of the three. The Daniel Island Property Owners' Association announced on September 29 that the closure would start Monday, October 5, and last "about six weeks." Six weeks from October 5 lands around November 16. The association has said that timing depends on the weather and that it will post an update if anything changes.

The roundabout's end date comes in two versions. When the contract was awarded, The Daniel Island News reported that Blythe Development would have 180 days to finish once construction began, which pointed to completion around May at the latest. The city's closure listing now ends March 31. If the March date holds, the corner reopens before the contract's own deadline.

A Decade-Old Traffic Fix Designed Around the Crosswalk

The reason this corner gets its own roundabout is already familiar to anyone stuck at its signals around 8 a.m. Traffic coming off I-526, both westbound from Mount Pleasant and eastbound from North Charleston, feeds straight into the intersection. The Daniel Island News described lines of cars backing up on both sides of Seven Farms Drive during morning and evening rush hours. The same report noted a steady flow of walkers, runners and cyclists crossing to reach the shops and restaurants, to get to and from school, or just to exercise. The early fixes officials discussed in 2015 were turning lanes. Over time that conversation became a traffic circle.

On paper, the project is sized to match the traffic. Live 5 reported that Charleston Traffic and Transportation Director Michael Mathis said traffic volumes drove the choice of a single-lane roundabout with some multi-lane approaches. The pedestrian side of the design is what stands out. Berkeley County's announcement lists landscaping, pedestrian improvements and rapid-flashing beacons on every approach to the circle.

Here is what the money buys:

• Contract: $2,569,097.76 to Blythe Development LLC of Charlotte, awarded by Berkeley County Council on July 27, 2026
• Total project cost: about $3.4 million, paid for through the 2022 Berkeley County One Cent Sales Tax Program
• Centerpiece: a 40-foot flagpole topped with an American flag and lit by an LED spotlight, with the flag, light and upkeep privately funded at an estimated $20,000

The flagpole may be the most visible change of all. A corner people have known for years as a set of traffic lights will become a landmark at the center of the circle.

Walkers Lost Two Routes in the Same Week

On the calendar, the timing is plain. River Landing Drive closed to traffic on October 2. Three days later, on October 5, the boardwalk between Fairchild Drive and Seven Farms Drive closed too.

The association's notice describes this boardwalk as one of the island's busiest walking routes, used every day by people on foot, on bikes, with strollers and with dogs. It says years of heavy use and coastal weather have worn it down. The Daniel Island Town Association is paying for the rebuild with money from the Daniel Island Community Fund. The notice asks everyone to stay behind the posted barriers, because active construction zones can hide hazards.

The walkers who cross the intersection itself were raised early as a concern. In September, Berkeley County Councilman Jarrod Brooks told The Daniel Island News that a daycare near the corner uses the intersection to reach the waterfront and the park. "I've met with them - they will be kept in the loop," he said. The same report listed safe crossings for students going to and from school as a top concern while construction is underway.

So the people the finished roundabout is built to protect are the ones who feel the construction first. The trade-off has a deadline. If the weather cooperates, the boardwalk is expected back around mid-November. The beacons and pedestrian improvements arrive when the road reopens in the spring.

The Questions Still Being Worked Out at the Edges

A closure lasting several months moves traffic onto streets that weren't designed for it. In early September, before work started, Brooks walked The Daniel Island News through the issues neighbors had raised.

1. Cut-through traffic. Neighbors worried drivers would skip the work zone by cutting behind the condos at 254 Seven Farms Drive or through the large parking lot behind the office and residential building at 225 Seven Farms Drive. "We don't want their parking lots to become a freeway for the next three or four months while this is done," Brooks said.
2. Emergency access. Charleston Fire Department Station 18 and Charleston Police Team Patrol 5 are both less than a block from the intersection.
3. Storefront access at 211 River Landing Drive. Posh Nail Lounge and Daniel Island Barbershop sit on a one-way street that customers use for parking. A new concrete median running from the roundabout down Seven Farms toward Bishop England would limit access the way traffic flows now. "We will probably end up reversing traffic to make their businesses more accessible," Brooks said.

In that interview, Brooks said he didn't yet have answers to many of these questions and expected them to be settled before construction began. The city's closure listing shows all lanes closed. It does not publish a detour route. For the businesses at 211 River Landing Drive, that makes the direction of their one-way street the detail to check on your next appointment.

What's Still Open Around the Barriers

The closures change the routes to River Landing Drive. The places along it are still there.

Vinea Courtyard Kitchen is at 115 River Landing Drive, Suite 101, and is still listing dinner service and seasonal events on its website. Its Oktoberfest weeks ran from the last week of September into the first week of October.

Meyer Vogl Gallery is the River Landing Drive address with a clock running. In August, owner Laurie Meyer told The Daniel Island News that the gallery will leave its River Landing Drive space in early 2027, after five years on the island. Her downtown Charleston gallery is staying where it is. She said the decision came when it was time to sign another five-year lease. As of that report, she was looking for a new space east of the Cooper and said, "Perhaps we will find something in Mount Pleasant."

Meyer called the gallery's last stretch on the island a send-off. On Thursday, October 29, it hosts "Small Pieces, Big Picture," a fundraiser for The Formation Project. A special exhibition of current works is planned for the gallery's final weeks on the island. "We are going to go out with a bang!" Meyer told the paper. Over five years, the space has been a gallery, a working studio, a yoga studio and a book-signing venue, and it has hosted its Culture Cake series.

Selling a home near the new circle this spring? At Modern & Main Group, we'd love to help you tell the story of a rebuilt boardwalk and a corner made for walking. Tell your home's story. Start with a consultation.