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ScribeBy: Arlie Porter of The Post and
Courier Staff
Originally Published on: 6/21/03
Island residents must wait another week for chance to cross new Limehouse Bridge
State officials have delayed the opening of the new Limehouse Bridge to Johns Island for a week to give politicians an opportunity to speak at an opening ceremony, according to sources involved in the bridge project.
The long-awaited bridge over the Intracoastal Waterway could have opened to traffic Friday. State transportation officials, however, postponed an official dedication until next week because some politicians were unavailable this weekend.
"We were ready to open the bridge Friday. The day before, the Department of Transportation told us to stop work," said a source familiar with the construction project.
"We have been stopped by political forces," the source said.
When exactly the $21.5 million bridge will open remained a mystery Friday. Stan Shealy, a spokesman for the department, said a dedication is planned for next Friday, but he did not know when the public could drive over it.
He referred questions to Robert Clark, director of the Transportation Department's Charleston office, who did not return phone calls Friday afternoon. Other state transportation officials in Columbia either did not return calls or were unavailable.
Rick Bryant, project manager with subcontractor Banks Construction Co., said last week that a dedication ceremony would be held this weekend and that the bridge would be open by Monday.
Reached Friday, Bryant said "apparently someone with higher authority" told transportation officials not to have Banks reroute traffic to the new bridge Monday but to wait until after the dedication ceremony Friday.
Bryant said he did not know who ordered the change or why.
The delay incensed Johns Island resident Elizabeth Hanahan, who drives across the obsolete Limehouse drawbridge, which the new bridge will replace, every day.
"I have to come off the ceiling first," Hanahan said. "I don't believe the politicians. It's absolutely a stupid act on their part to keep the public from driving over a bridge that's ready. I can't believe that they would do it for their ego trips, for their 'I'm for the public. Vote for me,' bit," she said.
For residents of Johns, Wadmalaw, Kiawah and Seabrook islands, the Limehouse Bridge is one of two access points from Johns Island to the mainland, and thousands drive over it daily.
Like the other drawbridge onto Johns Island, it's notorious for bringing traffic to a standstill when it opens to boaters floating down the Intracoastal Waterway, most often on hot summer days.
The Transportation Department said the Limehouse Bridge, dedicated in 1958, needed to be replaced 23 years ago. Ten years ago, U.S. Sen. Fritz Hollings, D-S.C., had the bridge declared a hazard to navigation, forcing the Coast Guard to come up with money to replace it.
Seven years ago, he said construction could begin in two years.
The bridge replacement was delayed as the Transportation Department waited for Coast Guard funding that took years to materialize.
Work began on the new 65-foot fixed span more than two years ago. The two-lane bridge, which is expandable to four, was built on budget and finished well ahead of its September completion date, transportation officials have said
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