From the roundabout on Cane Bay Boulevard, a road called Spine Road C runs out to the intersection of US 176 and Nexton Parkway. Berkeley County held its official opening on August 6, 2021. Back at the main entrance, Cane Bay Boulevard meets US 176 at North Creek Drive, beside The Market at Cane Bay and across the highway from Cane Bay High School. A third connection reaches Black Tom Road. All three carry a Cane Bay address, and they lead onto different stretches of the same highway.
For anyone comparing Cane Bay Plantation with other Summerville-area communities, that matters more than the "minutes from I-26" line in a listing. The widening of US 176 has been finished on one side of Nexton Parkway. On the other side it's still in design, and the new interstate lanes that opened this fall sit on a part of I-26 that a Cane Bay driver using Nexton Parkway never reaches on the way toward Charleston.
Two of the three exits were built for emergency access
Cane Bay didn't start with three exits. In December 2019, SCDOT approved the encroachment permit to connect Cane Bay Boulevard to Black Tom Road, and Berkeley County framed it as a safety project. In a statement from Berkeley County, then-Supervisor Johnny Cribb said:
"Providing additional means of ingress/egress in this large and growing community is not only a quality of life issue, but most importantly a public safety matter."
For about a decade, residents had one neighborhood exit, as a Post and Courier headline put it in 2020. In May 2020, a few months before the second exit opened, the county opened the US 176 and Nexton Parkway intersection project, which extended Nexton Parkway to US 176. It wasn't a Cane Bay exit yet. It was the intersection the third exit would later connect to. The two added exits came after that:
- July 29, 2020. The 570-foot Black Tom Road and Cane Bay Boulevard connection opened. A Berkeley County ambulance, a sheriff's vehicle and a Whitesville Fire Department truck were the first vehicles through, according to the county's announcement. The county said the developer would handle construction.
- August 6, 2021. Spine Road C, the county's "third exit/entrance point," officially opened. It links the Cane Bay Boulevard roundabout to US 176 at the Nexton Parkway extension.
Because the second and third exits were planned around how quickly an ambulance could get in, nobody promised that any one of them would serve a given street better at 7:30 on a weekday morning. Whichever exit is closest to a home determines which segment of US 176 its owner drives first, and those segments are at different stages of construction.
The main entrance got its four lanes in December
The US 176 Widening Phase 1 covers 4.7 miles between US 17A and the Sheep Island Road and Nexton Parkway area. It took the highway from two lanes to four and added turn lanes, raised concrete medians, and signal and intersection improvements, along with extensive water and sewer relocations. L. Dean Weaver Company was the contractor, and the county lists the current contract amount at $51,453,259.20. All lanes opened to traffic on December 23, 2025, according to the county's April 2026 project sheet. Berkeley County's July 13, 2026 program update lists $65.3 million in One Cent Sales Tax funding for the phase.
The junction at Cane Bay Boulevard and North Creek Drive falls inside that completed stretch. The four lanes are there because the traffic was. SCDOT's 2024 Berkeley County traffic counts put the estimated average daily volume on US 176 from Sheep Island Road to US 17A at 19,800 vehicles in 2024.
Not every trip from the main gate uses the highway, either. The Parker's Kitchen at 1111 Cane Bay Boulevard in The Market at Cane Bay was the chain's first store designed with golf cart access and golf cart parking, built at the suggestion of local residents, according to a 2019 opening report. Some errands from that side of the community never touch US 176.
Past Nexton Parkway, the widening is still in design
Spine Road C comes out at the dividing line between the finished phase and the next one. The US 176 Phase 2 Corridor Improvement Project covers 2.7 miles from Nexton Parkway to Jedburg Road, and it hasn't been built yet. The project website describes the planned road as follows:
| Element | Planned for Phase 2 |
|---|---|
| Travel lanes | One 12-foot lane added in each direction |
| Center | A 15-foot two-way left-turn lane or raised concrete median |
| Walking and biking | A 10-foot shared-use path on the north side, a 5-foot sidewalk on the south side |
| Water crossing | A new bridge at Sandy Run Creek, replacing the existing culvert |
| Side roads | Side road and turn lane improvements |
The conceptual drawings note that a raised concrete median may be proposed throughout the project limits for managing access, and that the concepts are subject to change. Black Tom Road and Cooper Store Road both appear on those plans. Under that kind of median design, left turns into side streets and driveways along this stretch could change once construction finishes.
The money is in place. In July 2026, ABC News 4 reported that Berkeley County had won a $22.5 million federal BUILD grant for the project, on top of more than $34 million from the county's One Cent Sales Tax. County officials said the improvements are meant to accommodate continued growth in the Cane Bay and Nexton areas.
The timeline is a separate question. The county held a public information meeting on January 29, 2026 in the Cane Bay High School cafeteria. Its July 13, 2026 program update counts 68 sign-ins, 215 comments and 1,200 views of the meeting website, says right-of-way plans are underway, and puts the start of construction in the third quarter of 2028. That date is when construction begins, not when it ends. A buyer closing this winter can expect this segment to stay two lanes for at least the first year and a half of owning the home, and to become a work zone after that.
A smaller project is also on the books for the same corridor. The August 3, 2026 agenda packet of CHATS, the regional transportation planning committee, lists a safety project at US 176 and Black Tom Road, S-467, through SCDOT's statewide safety program: $3.712 million for construction plus a $300,000 developer contribution, $4.012 million in all.
The new I-26 lanes are northwest of Exit 197
The roadwork that got the most attention this fall was on the interstate. SCDOT opened three travel lanes in each direction on I-26 between SC 27 and Jedburg Road, mile markers 187 to 194, on September 23, 2026. ABC News 4 reported the project at an estimated $183.8 million and cited SCDOT figures of an average 54,700 vehicles a day on that section in 2025, projected to reach 81,000 a day by 2043. SCDOT said the remaining markings, signs, rumble strips and grassing would be finished before the end of October.
The commuters ABC News 4 interviewed had mixed experiences, and the location of the new lanes is part of the reason. The widened stretch ends at Jedburg Road. Nexton Parkway meets I-26 at Exit 197, which Nexton announced when the interchange opened in 2018. A Cane Bay driver who takes Nexton Parkway toward Charleston gets on the interstate past the end of the new lanes. Those lanes mostly help traffic coming from farther up I-26, which then merges into the same corridor Cane Bay drivers use.
Questions to answer before you choose a street
Since the three exits lead to different conditions, these are the questions we'd want answered for any Cane Bay home under consideration:
- Which exit does this street empty toward? Trace the route on a map from the driveway to the Cane Bay Boulevard and North Creek Drive junction, to Spine Road C, and to Black Tom Road, and note which is shortest.
- Does that exit put you on the finished four lanes or the two-lane segment? Southeast of Nexton Parkway, the Phase 1 widening is open. Northwest of it, construction is anticipated to begin in the third quarter of 2028.
- How far is the property from the Phase 2 corridor? For homes and side streets near US 176 between Nexton Parkway and Jedburg Road, look over the conceptual plans on the project website, including the possible raised median.
- What does the drive look like at the hour you'll actually make it? Drive the route from the house to the workplace, gate, or school drop-off at that hour, before you write an offer.
- Where do you get on I-26? Exit 197 at Nexton Parkway, the US 17A route, and the newly widened stretch toward Jedburg Road each lead to a different drive.
If you're comparing Cane Bay streets around a set report time, a PCS date, or a school run, the Angela Miller Team can map out which exit a home uses and how that drive compares with your other options. Ask us for a free home valuation and neighborhood guide, and we'll include a route-by-route look at the Cane Bay exits for the homes on your shortlist.