July 2023 Update: MCE Funding Plan | Upper River Road Repaving | River/Murrywood/Rushland Landing Intersection

The Post and Courier reported on June 30th that Charleston County submitted a funding plan to the State Infrastructure Bank (SIB) for the $2.2B Mark Clark Extension (MCE) project. The County's financial obligation, not including bond servicing and additional needed improvements beyond what is currently envisioned for River Road to accommodate the increased traffic, amounts to $1.78B.

According to the article, the funding will come from a half cent sales tax that will amount to greater than $5B in total. The sales tax revenues will be split among the MCE, other road improvements, and greenbelt projects.

This sales tax is expected to be voted on in a public referendum in November 2024. This proposed sales tax would replace the current transportation sales tax from 2004 that is expected to meet its funding limit of $1.3B in 2026.

Note that Charleston County has another half cent sales tax from 2016 that has a funding limit of $2.1B. There would be no net increase in our 9% sales tax which is one of the highest in the state.

The amazing thing about all of this is that the County will not share the funding plan for this $2.2B project with the public or even with County council members! This Post and Courier editorial addressed the folly of this situation.

We don't understand how such a consequential financial endeavor can be undertaken without it being disclosed to the public and discussed in the open during County council meetings. We encourage councilmembers to demand this issue be put on the council agenda for discussion.

Upper River Road Repaving

The County plans to spend $3M to $4M to mill, patch, and resurface upper River Road (Main to Maybank) as part of their 2023 resurfacing plan. Along with the resurfacing they are implementing a new type of wet reflective pavement marking that will improve visibility of the pavement markings during both night and rain/wet conditions.

In addition, they are planning to add milled-in sinusoidal rumble strips along the white edge lines (but not along the centerline). Sinusoidal rumble strips are quieter, but are expected to be effective at alerting drivers if they are driving on the pavement edge line and too close to the edge of pavement.

Note that there is no plan to widen the shoulders where feasible. Shoulder widening had been identified as a significant need in this February 2023 community survey. A concern is that without widening the shoulders the edge of the road will quickly deteriorate and we will be back to the current situation.

If you have questions or concerns about the repaving effort, you can find the County contacts here.

River/Murrywood/Rushland Landing Intersection

Residents from the community along Rushland Landing Road approached the City and County about much needed improvements to the intersection of Murraywood and Rushland Landing Roads with River Road. As shown above, Murraywood and Rushland Landing Roads are offset when they meet River Road.

As shown in the photo below, an old culvert is located at this intersection. The view of this photo is from Murraywood Road looking at River Road in the foreground and Rushland Landing Road in the background.

The traffic safety issues at this intersection are worsened by the non-alignment of Murraywood and Rushland Landing Roads, the lack of turns lanes on any of the roads, the lack of shoulders, the closeness of the culvert, the lack of traffic calming devises (such as a roundabout) and the large number of trucks that use the road, often as a cut-through.

On that last topic, it is interesting to note that the volume of truck traffic is exasperated by trucks from Dorchester County hauling leachate (landfill liquid waste) to the Charleston Water System facility on Murraywood Road.

The City basically told the residents that the County is the one with the funds to improve roads, even if the roads are within the City limits as this intersection is.

The County told them this intersection will be addressed as part of Phase 1 of the Mark Clark Extension project. They indicated that if this intersection were implemented as a standalone project the design and permitting would take up to 4 years and the cost would be well over $6M. Note that the County typically allocates $2M a year for intersections improvements for the entire County.

Based upon this information, the intersection could be improved by 2028 (4 years to permit and design, 1 year to build), by 2031 (using the County's current MCE estimate of 4 years to start the MCE, 4 years to build), or much longer based upon the uncertainty of the outcome of a 2024 referendum, the unavailability of funds from the 2004 and 2016 half cent sales taxes, and the need to bond funds.

We encourage you to engage your State and County representatives to express your views.