Council hears toll road dissent

People opposed to the possible construction of a toll road across Johns Island got their first chance to voice their concerns to Charleston County Council on Thursday. Bill Saunders and Thomas Legare of Concerned Citizens of the Sea Islands and Megan Desrosiers, director of conservation programs for the Coastal Conservation League, made their case to council's Finance Committee. The council had previously listened to an overview of the issue presented by an engineer, said Jennie Davis, county public information officer. It also heard a presentation in support of the parkway, which was organized by Councilman Paul Thurmond, she said. Thurmond's district includes Kiawah and Seabrook islands. He supports the concept of the toll road and has said it would provide a speedy path across the island and ease traffic in some of the most-congested areas. The council wanted to hear the views of people opposed to the project before a public comment session at 6:30 p.m. Thursday at St. John's High School on Johns Island, she said. Saunders, a Johns Island native and a co-founder of Concerned Citizens of the Sea Islands, said members of his group "don't see how the parkway would benefit Johns or Wadmalaw islands." Instead, he said, the new road would benefit residents on Kiawah and Seabrook islands by giving them a faster way to get across Johns Island. He also said he doesn't think a road cutting across Johns Island will relieve traffic problems. The new toll road would actually encourage development, he said, drawing even more traffic to the largely rural island. Desrosiers told council members that proponents of building the parkway say it will improve safety on Johns Island roads because it will reduce and improve the flow of traffic. But she doesn't think that's true, she said. An early parkway proposal included in the presentation Thurmond coordinated wouldn't likely reduce traffic at the two intersections where most accidents happen on Johns Island, Desrosiers said. Those sites are the intersection of Maybank Highway and Bohicket and Main roads and the intersection of U.S. Highway 17 and Main Road, a gateway to the island. She said that more simple solutions to improving island road safety haven't yet been tried. Reducing speed limits and improving some of the busy intersections would likely bring some relief, she said. "Let's not build a road before we fully understand the problem," she said. Saunders said before the meeting "there are other things that could be done to make traffic flow smoothly. But they (the county) don't want to do them because it would interfere with construction of new roads." Traffic congestion, he said, keeps people angry and more receptive to building roads. Saunders also said that his group strongly believes that many roads on Johns Island desperately need improvement, and that the county should improve existing roads before it builds new ones. Desrosiers said she's also concerned about the hardship having a toll road would place on lower-income residents or workers. "You shouldn't have to pay to drive on a safe road," she said. If you go What: A public comment session on whether to build a toll road across Johns Island. When: 6:30 p.m. Thursday. Where: St. John's High School auditorium, 1518 Main Road, Johns Island. www.charlestoncounty.org

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