Mumford, Selby and Back Creek roads in Bishopville area changed to 40 mph

By Brian Gilliland, Associate Editor

(March 1, 2018) Responding to resident complaints, three county roads in Bishopville will now have speed limits of 40 miles per hour, following Worcester County Commissioners approval on Tuesday.

Mumford Road, Selby Road and Back Creek Road were previously uncontrolled, which set the speed limit to 50 mph by default, Public Works Director John Tustin said.

This was questioned by Commissioner Ted Elder, who thought the default rate was lower, but was reassured by other county staffers that the figure was correct. Nevertheless, other staff said they would double-check the law.

Commissioner Jim Bunting brought up the issue several months ago, and a traffic study was undertaken by the county roads department. Each road was examined for a week, and each road connects to St. Martin Neck Road.

Back Creek Road was the busiest of the three studied, and counted about 3,350 vehicles during the study period. The average speed was 44 mph, with the 85th percentile moving at 52 mph. Almost 87 percent of vehicles on the road were traveling faster than 36 mph.

Selby Road was used by approximately 2,640 vehicles during the observation period in early December 2017. The average speed was 25 mph, with only 38 percent moving faster than 36 mph.

Mumford Road was studied in late November into early December 2017. The weeklong study found 909 vehicles traveled the road at an average speed of 31 mph, with the top 85th percentile moving at a rate of 48 mph. More than half of the vehicles measured were traveling faster than 36 mph.

Based on the study, the speed limit was set at 40 mph for all three roads.