Islanders happy as bridge opens

By: Arlie Porter of The Post and Courier Staff
Originally Published on: 6/24/03

Traffic officials still sorting out Limehouse controversy The Limehouse Bridge to Johns Island opened to traffic Monday, as state transportation officials continued their effort to clear up a controversy over whether they postponed the opening so politicians could celebrate first. A bridge subcontractor said last week that the bridge could open Monday but that the Transportation Department had instructed his company not to reroute traffic to the new bridge until Friday. That is the same day state transportation commissioners are scheduled to meet in Charleston and formally dedicate the new bridge. After reacting in outrage Saturday to the subcontractor's claim that the bridge would not open to the public before the Friday ceremony, Johns Islanders who had just driven over the new bridge Monday, appeared to be content to let the matter rest. After "the bump in the road," as Johns Islander Elizabeth Hanahan put it, motorists have embraced the new bridge, which opened at 5:30 a.m. Monday. "People are driving slow because of the view. It just hits you. It's the most fantastic view from that bridge you will see in your life," she said. Transportation officials said Monday that they did not order the contractor to stop work until the dedication ceremony. "The department did not order a slowdown of the work or a shutdown of the work," State Highway Engineer Don Freeman said in a statement Monday. Freeman said he asked if the contractor could do other work on the bridge, short of opening it, until Friday. He said he decided it was in the public's best interest to open the bridge as soon as possible. Freeman did not say in the statement when he made that decision, and he refused to answer further questions Monday. Bob Harrell, the transportation commissioner who represents the Charleston area, said it is reasonable that staff wanted the bridge opening to coincide with the commissioners' meeting. But at no time that he knows of did staff order a work stoppage, he said. "It appears that the whole thing might be just a big misunderstanding. That's the only thing I can think of," Harrell said. "I am baffled by this." Rick Bryant, project manager with subcontractor Banks Construction Co., said last week that he pulled workers off the job after the S.C. Department of Transportation told him not to open the bridge until Friday, instead of Monday, as had been planned. At the time, a source involved in the bridge project told The Post and Courier that work was stopped until Friday because some politicians were unavailable last weekend. Around 3 p.m. Sunday, Bryant's crews got the go-ahead to put the final touches on the $21.5 million bridge that links Johns Island to the mainland.

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