Perhaps like you, we were interested in the status of the Bohicket Road project (aka Main Road Corridor Segment C). So we reached out to the County for an update. Here is their response:
"We’ll finalize the comment responses in the next several weeks and are concurrently working on a comprehensive representation of the information we collected during the process. I’m hopeful exhibits will follow soon after the comment responses are ready."
Based on this timeline we would expect the information would be available prior to the upcoming county council elections on Nov 4th so that we can query the candidates on their positions. Specifically we would want to know if they agree with Rational Roads that our roads should enhance our community and environment, and not just move people through it.
We certainly will look forward to reading all of the raw comments so that we can validate the County's comprehensive representation.
While we are waiting we thought you might be interested in some Charleston County road history.
The diagram above is from the Charleston Evening Post, a precursor to the Post and Courier. It shows the 1967 transportation plan for Charleston County. Click on the image to access a higher resolution version.
They correctly envisioned I-526, which was not started until 1979 and was finished in 1992. By the way, this road was referred to as the "Inner Belt Freeway" since an outer belt freeway was also envisioned.
They also correctly envisioned the James Island Connector, which was completed in 1993.
Beyond that most of the other recommended roads never came to pass, primarily due to community opposition. Much of this opposition came from residents in West Ashley and James Island.
West Ashley residents did not want a road parallel to Savannah Highway slashing through their community. James Island residents did not want a road parallel to Riverland Drive to take out their houses or the tree canopy, and they certainly didn't want a road slashing through the Riverland Terrance community.
And they sure knew how to express their opposition back in the 60's. The circa 1969 picture above is from a State Highway Department meeting on the inner belt freeway where "more than 1,000 persons" attended. The headline of the story this picture goes with is "Re-Routing Sought for Belt Freeway".
As a Johns Island resident you might just guess where these West Ashley and James Island residents wanted the inner belt freeway rerouted. They pushed for re-routing using the "John's Island Plan". You can read more about the meeting here.
Enjoy your Labor Day weekend!
|
