Isle of Palms Connector (SC 517) — Mount Pleasant to Isle of Palms

The main route from Mount Pleasant to Isle of Palms and the alternative to the Ben Sawyer Bridge. SC 517 runs 3.84 miles from US 17 in Mount Pleasant to SC 703 on Isle of Palms; most of it is the Isle of Palms Connector Bridge, an 11,703-foot fixed span over the Intracoastal Waterway. Opened in 1993; before that the Ben Sawyer Bridge was the only road to both islands. Typical drive from central Mount Pleasant is about 15-20 minutes off-peak. It is a fixed bridge, so there are no marine openings — but it is also the reason the outbound backup forms at the US 17 end on summer weekends, and the reason the County Park warns that limited lanes off the island can produce two-hour delays leaving at peak or ahead of weather. The City points residents to the SCDOT South Carolina 511 application for real-time traffic. Mileage and bridge length are from route references; the drive-time estimate is not an official figure.