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Johns Island, SC - Extending I-526 is not the best
way to spend $420M...at least that's what members of the group Concerned
Citizens for the Sea Islands say.
Greg Van der Werker has owned land on Kiawah Island for 14 years and now
lives there full time. He says extending the Mark Clark Expressway would be
a huge waste of money.
"It's a road that's going to be $420M or more and it will not solve any of
the traffic problems in the West Ashley, Johns Island, Sea Islands area that
it purports to be. I can't see any point in it and yet there's not enough
money, we've been told, to fix the roads we have."
The group agrees with the Council of Goverments traffic model that shows
extending 526 won't decrease congestion on Folly Road, Highway 61, or
Savannah Highway. The group also fears the extension of 526 could lead to
the disruption of island culture.
"Johns Island is a hub of Gullah/Geechee culture...You can still come on
Wadamalaw and Johns Islands and still find it. You still find our food
ways, you still find people living off the land traditionally, living out of
the waterways traditionally, and those things cannot continue the more and
more traffic you bring in," says Queen Quet, Chieftess of the Gullah/Geechee
Nation.
"It's like everything else, you have to walk in the shoes and walk on the
land that people are on to experience their problems. You can't experience
it from an office building or afar. You have to be where the problems are,"
says Van der Werker.
Charleston County Councilman Curtis Inabinett - who represents the Johns
Island district - was one of three County councilmembers to attend the
meeting. He says he supports a traffic study for the Johns Island area and
will relay citizens' concerns back to council.
County Council has received $99M from the State Infrastructure Bank for the
extension project and Inabinett says the money is still sitting there
untouched.
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