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In addition to our advocacy efforts, we seek to keep our fellow Islanders informed on transportation projects on our Island. We hope you find this update of consolidated State, County, and City information useful.
General
2024 Referendum for a Half-Cent Sales Tax: Inputs are due to the County by Wednesday (March 6) for this proposed $5.4B sales tax that would last up to 25 years. You can read more about it here. Your opinions matter. Please take a few moments today and submit them to the County.
Mark Clark Extension (aka 526): The SCDOT must hold a public hearing before they can obtain final environmental impact statement (EIS) approval. They plan to hold that hearing in January 2025. That would then allow them to obtain their record of decision (ROD) from the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). After that they will need to obtain permits from the Corp of Engineers and the Coast Guard.
SCDOT said they cannot spend the $75M the County and the State Infrastructure Bank (SIB) each gave them to acquire right-of-way (ROW) properties until they have the ROD. Note that the public had been led to believe there was a time urgency to provide the funds for ROW acquisitions.
It has been suggested that the County's $75M, which is just setting there, could be put to better use improving roads on Johns Island now. For example, it could be used to fund the $51M project to improve the greater Maybank-River intersection.
North of Maybank
Upper River Road (between Main and Maybank) Repaving: The County repaving project for this section of River Road is expected to start in mid-March and to take up to 4 months to complete.
Unfortunately, this effort does not include widening the shoulders. The need for this widening was illustrated yet again last week when a tanker trunk overturned on this section of River Road.
This much needed widening is not included in the list of potential projects for the 2024 half-cent sales tax. We encourage you to tell the County to include this project.
Old Pond Road Bridge Replacement: The SCDOT project to replace the bridge over Simmons Creek on Old Pond Road was scheduled to start in 2023. It was then moved to 2024. It is now scheduled for 2032. The reason given was that other bridges in the state now have higher priority and that it is likely that this schedule will change again in the coming years.
Main Road Corridor Segment A (aka the Main and 17 flyover): The County said this project should go under contract in Q3 of this year. It should take 3 to 3-1/2 years to complete. This would put completion in about 2028.
Unfortunately, there is only one bidder for this project ... two other bidders dropped out. If the bid does not fall within the county's expected range, then the bid process may have to be restarted. This would further delay the project.
It is expected that the project will cost about $200M, which will be the largest road project the County has ever done. In comparison, the County's proposed Mark Clark Extension project will cost over 10 times this amount.
Maybank Corridor
Northern Pitchfork: The ribbon cutting for this road, which runs from the new traffic signal on Maybank Hwy (at Fenwick Hall Allee) to upper River Road, is expected to occur in late March.
As shown in the graphic below, this project includes the restriping of Maybank Hwy near River Road . The restriping will basically result in the right lane coming on-Island from the bridge to be for straight and right-turn traffic only. This right lane will split into two lanes near the traffic signal at River Road to accommodate this traffic.
The left lane coming on-Island will be for left-turn traffic only. This should improve traffic flow and decrease our collective stress level by greatly reducing the number of drivers who switch lanes at the last moment.
We highly encourage the City and County to take lessons learned from the debut of the Fenwick Hall Allee traffic signal. Changes should include:
- Inform the public weeks in advance of what will happen, including using social media and electronic message boards.
- Debut the road on a weekend, not on a weekday.
- Have police and traffic engineers on the ground observing issues and making immediate changes as needed.
- Keep the public up-to-date on any issues and resolutions.
Since they will occur at the same time, the repaving of upper River Road and the opening of the Northern Pitchfork must be coordinated. Otherwise, there is the very real potential that any success from opening the Northern Pitchfork will be nullified for four months while the repaving is occurring,
We also encourage the County and City to take this opportunity to make some simple but needed improvements for off-island traffic. This includes adding large lane direction and zipper merge signage.
2024 Half-Cent Sales Tax Potential Projects: The County has identified two projects to potentially be funded by the 2024 half-cent sales tax:
- Maybank Highway Improvements (Eastern Portion) $51M: "Capacity enhancements to Maybank Highway between River Road and the Stono River Bridge along with bicycle-pedestrian accommodations." [We refer to this as improvements to the greater Maybank-River intersection.]
- Maybank Highway Improvements (Western Portion) $126M: "Capacity enhancements to Maybank Highway between Bohicket Road and River Road Bridge along with bicycle-pedestrian accommodations." [This project needs to have a planted center lane with controlled access. Otherwise, it will become another Folly Road. It's hard to redesign a corridor-long suicide lane once it's created.]
Note that these are only "potential projects" and may not be included in the final list of projects. Why? Because there are over $2B worth of potential projects and only $881M has been allocated to them. We encourage you to tell the county to include these projects.
Even if these much needed road projects are included in the final list of projects, the courts recently ruled that the county does have to actually improve these roads.
This reneging on promises occurred for the 2004 half-cent sales tax when the widening of Maybank Hwy was a listed project, but only a small portion was actually implemented. It occurred again for the 2016 half-cent sales tax when the widening Main Road from River Road to Maybank Hwy was a listed project, but it was defunded by the County.
So there is no guarantee that these projects will actually be funded and built. There needs to be better way.
Perhaps it is what Berkeley County is doing for their sales tax. Their tax lasts only 7 years, rather than 25 years. It passed by a 74% to 26% margin. Compare that to Charleston County's last 25 year sales tax which only passed by a 51% to 49% margin!.
This shorter time frame gives voters an opportunity to assess if the County is living up to its promises and make course corrections accordingly. As the counts pointed out in their ruling, “If political bodies or office holders renege on their public positions ... the voter’s best recourse is at the ballot box".
South of Maybank
Main Road Corridor Segment C (Bohicket Road): A public meeting for this County project is expected to be held in late March. This meeting had originally been scheduled for October, 2023. The delay was due to issues with the tree survey and not wanting the meeting to conflict with the 2024 sales tax referendum meetings.
The County has eliminated several alternatives from consideration and selected a recommended preferred alternative. At the meeting it is anticipated the County will present the proposed impact to homes and business, especially those at the Main-Bohicket-Maybank intersection, as well as to the grand trees along Bohicket Road.
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