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On Monday, Jan 22, from 5:00 to 7:00 pm Charleston County will hold a drop-in meeting to present their proposed projects for a half-cent transportation sales tax. We will vote on this tax in a November referendum. The meeting will be held at St John's High School, 1518 Main Road. Your feedback is needed! Please plan to attend and supply your comments.
The County has said the proposed tax would collect $5.4B over 25 years. Similar to the previous sales taxes in 2004 and 2016, it would fund road projects, public transportation, and greenbelt programs. A total of over $4B is expected to be allocated for just roads.
Just imagine the road improvements the County could accomplish with $4B! But they need to hear from you.
- Which projects do you want the County to spend your taxes on?
- Which projects do you want the County to not spend your taxes on?
- Should a higher percentage of the tax funds be spent on public transportation and greenbelt programs?
- Do you even want to impose this sales tax on yourself?
Attend the meeting and tell the County.
The County has also said they plan to have an online portal for submitting comments. Once that goes live we will send you the link.
We encourage you to tell the County that the road projects to be listed in the referendum must include the following:
- Projects ranked by priority ... so that if the funds run out we will know which projects would be dropped.
- Estimated cost of each project, including the bond servicing costs for the project ... the bond servicing costs could be significant for the initial projects.
- Estimated completion date for each project ... to help set our expectations for when we will see safety improvements and congestion relief.
We also encourage you to tell the County the purpose and need of any road project must be to improve safety and reduce congestion. We only say this because improving safety was omitted from the Main Road Corridor Project (Main and Bohicket Roads) which was funded by the 2016 referendum.
Finally, we put together some ideas we have heard from you on how to improve our roads. You can use these ideas to help guide your comments to the County. See the sidebar below for details.
See you Monday!
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Sidebar: Possible Projects for the New Sales Tax
Independent of the Mark Clark Extension (526), there are many transportation improvements that are needed on Johns Island. We've put together a list of some of these projects based upon feedback we've received from you.
Do you agree with this list? Disagree with some of the items? What did we miss? Please provide your comments to us at RationalRoads@gmail.com so that we can update the list accordingly.
Note that it is assumed that the Main Road Corridor Segment A (aka Main and 17 flyover) and Segment C (Bohicket Road) will continue to funded by the 2016 sale tax. It is also assumed that Segment C will only extend from Brownswood Road to Plow Ground Road.
ON-ISLAND
Greater Maybank-River Intersection
- Add a second off-island lane with minimal impact to grand trees.
- Complete the Southern Pitchfork, including adding a traffic signal on Maybank Hwy nearer the bridge.
- Realign Cane Slash Rd with the Southern Pitchfork on River Rd.
- Realign the Northern Pitchfork entrance on Maybank Hwy with the Southern Pitchfork entrance.
- Install artificial intelligence (or equivalent) traffic signals.
Maybank Highway ... between Main Road and River Road
- Add center turn lanes the length of Maybank Hwy with planted medians.
- Add a traffic signal or a roundabout at Sailfish Dr.
- Realign Zelasko Dr with Crowne Commons Way and add a traffic signal or a roundabout at that intersection.
- Realign Southwick Dr with St Johns Woods Pkwy and add a traffic signal or a roundabout at that intersection.
- Add parallel roads to Maybank Hwy where feasible, without going through subdivisions.
- Provide a CARTA bus line with inviting bus stops along the full length of Maybank Hwy.
- Add an inviting bike/ped path along the full length of Maybank Hwy.
- Landscape the full length of Maybank Hwy with live oak trees and other plantings.
- [Note that much of the above effort was to be funded by the 2004 half-cent sales tax.]
Upper River Road ... between Main Rd and Maybank Hwy
- Significantly increase shoulder widths where possible along the entire road and add guardrails where needed.
- Install a roundabout at Brownswood Rd.
- Improve the River-Murraywood-Rushland Landing intersection, including aligning Murraywood Rd and Rushland Landing Rd.
Lower River Road ... between Maybank Hwy and Betsy Kerrison Parkway
- Install roundabouts at Plow Ground Rd and Edenvale Rd
Main Road ... between Old Pond Rd and Brownswood Rd
- Add center turn lanes at Old Pond Rd, Doctor Whaley Rd, Kitford Rd, Belvedere Rd, Johan Rd, Conrad Rd, and Humbert Rd.
- Install a roundabout at Mary Ann Point Rd.
- Install a roundabout at Chisolm Rd.
- To support school traffic, add a road from the new Main-Chisolm roundabout to Brownswood Rd.
- Install a multi-use path for students that runs from Angel Oak Elementary School on Chisolm then along Main Road to Maybank Hwy.
- [Note that much of the above effort was to be funded by the 2016 half-cent sales tax.]
Bohicket Road/Betsy Kerrison Road
- Add roundabouts at Edenvale Rd, River Rd, and Hope Plantation Dr..
OFF-ISLAND
There are also several projects that are off-island that will impact congestion on Johns Island. These include:
Maybank Highway on James Island
- Install artificial intelligence (or equivalent) traffic signals on Folly Road from St Andrews Blvd to the James Island Connector.
- Provide turn lanes or other alternatives at the Maybank-Riverland intersection
Savannah Highway (US 17)
- Add a lane in each direction from SC 162 to Dobbin Rd.
- Add overpasses at SC 162, Davidson Rd, and Carolina Bay Dr.
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Published on: Jan 19, 2024
Subject: Half-Cent Sales Tax Referendum
Number of Subscribers: 2,924
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