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The big meeting may be over, but residents still can have their say on the
hot-button issue of the proposed Mark Clark Expressway extension for about
another week.
Residents can comment until April 25 by visiting
www.scdot.org/i526.
After that, the S.C. Department of Transportation will use the comments and
suggestions to identify what the current problems are and come up with
alternatives.
Not that some haven't come up with differing routes already that don't
include a cross-island expressway, which would stretch from the James Island
connector to Citadel Mall.
For instance, the Coastal Conservation League is submitting to DOT
alternatives garnered from a design charrette held earlier this year. The
league hopes that the department's project team will take them into
consideration as it develops the environmental impact statement.
"They mainly focus on taking the local trips that congest our main
throughways ... taking traffic off of them and putting them on secondary
streets," said the league's Lisa Jones-Turansky.
These alternatives include revamping the U.S. Highway 17/S.C. Highway
61/Wesley Drive "intersection" by making the roads and on-ramps two-way.
Alternatives that urban planning firm Glatting Jackson Kercher Anglin Inc.
offered include a grid system of streets so drivers could select different
routes to take. The firm even created a design that adds pedestrian paths,
crosswalks, a bike lane and trees lining Savannah Highway.
"Our alternative has the least amount of impact, it costs less and it
actually improves the quality of life," Jones-Turansky said.
The meeting on the expressway extension, which was attended by more than 400
residents, was held April 10 at Murray-LaSaine Elementary by DOT to gather
input from the public.
Dan Hinton, a member of the I-526 project team who works with the Federal
Highway Administration, said at the meeting that the team would look at the
public's comments and develop its alternative routes from that input and
environmental impact studies.
"We develop our own, but we already know what's out there," he said. "I
think improving our roads may be part of our alternatives."
The Coastal Community Foundation is holding weekly meetings with community
groups and neighborhood associations to talk about how its members think the
alternatives would be more beneficial.
If you would like to schedule a meeting with the foundation, call 723-8035.
After DOT develops the draft version of its environmental impact statement,
more public meetings and opportunities to comment will follow.
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