Penn Waller Detour

The Chatham County Department of Natural Resources will be closing a small portion of Penn Waller Road tentatively scheduled to resume Monday, September 30. The road closure will occur to replace and extend the culvert for Betz Creek that runs under Penn Waller and extend the sidewalk alongside the vehicular bridge. This will allow all pedestrian traffic to remain on Penn Waller rather than rerouting it through the Lower School entrance to the small pedestrian bridge. A detailed overview of the project from the DNR is available here. (Please note that this project is being managed by Chatham County. We are trying to work collaboratively to coordinate with them to reduce inconvenience for our families as much as possible, but we do not have oversight or management of this project.)

 

During construction, the drive to the Lower School and Penn Waller Rd where it crosses over Betz Creek will be closed except for cars exiting only during morning and afternoon carpool. Construction is likely to begin the week of September 23 and end in about 2 months. Cars exiting the Lower School campus drive will have to take a left and cars exiting the main campus drive will have to take a right onto Penn Waller when the road is completely closed.

 

In order to access the Lower School or the school’s main driveway during this closure, vehicular traffic on Penn Waller that is coming from Johnny Mercer Blvd will need to follow detours. The Department of Transportation’s detour will route traffic to take a left on Concord, followed by a right on Walthour to take a right onto the south end of Penn Waller to come back to the school.

 

The main driveway can be accessed in several ways depending on the direction of travel:

 

For vehicles traveling from the west (Whitemarsh/Thunderbolt):

• Follow Johnny Mercer Blvd to Wilmington Island Rd
• Take a right on Wilmington Island Rd
• Take a left on North Cromwell Rd
• Take a left on Deerwood Rd
• Take a left on Penn Waller Rd
• Take a left into the main entrance of St. Andrew’s campus

 

For vehicles traveling from the east (Tybee):

• Follow Johnny Mercer Blvd to the north entrance of Walthour Rd
• Take a left on Walthour Rd
• Follow Walthour Rd to the threeway stop where it intersects with Penn Waller Rd
• Take a right on Penn Waller Rd
• Take a left into the main entrance of St. Andrew’s campus

 

For vehicles traveling from the north (Talahi):

• Take Quarterman Dr to Johnny Mercer Blvd
• Take a left on Johnny Mercer Blvd
• Take a right on Walthour Rd
• Follow Walthour Rd to the threeway stop where it intersects with Penn Waller Rd
• Take a right on Penn Waller Rd
• Take a left into the main entrance of St. Andrew’s campus

For bikers/walkers:

• Bikers/walkers should use extreme caution when entering/exiting the campus through either entrance. Traffic patterns may be adjusted without warning and will be directly impacted by the construction. 
• Bikers/walkers traveling to/from the south (the direction of Walthour) should enter and exit through the main entrance of the school.
• Bikers/walkers traveling to/from the north (Kroger/Johnny Mercer) should enter and exit through the Lower School entrance of the school, using the lane closest to the school sign (which will be closed to vehicular traffic).