N. Chas. to spruce up roadsides

Parts of Dorchester Road and Rivers Avenue are getting a makeover.

The city will spend nearly $200,000 in local and state money to landscape the slopes along the ramps of Interstate 26 at Dorchester Road and beautify a stretch of Rivers Avenue at the two entrances to the North Charleston Housing Authority's new 484-unit Horizon Village subdivision, which lies between Rivers and Spruill avenues.

"It will increase the aesthetics of the area," North Charleston Public Works Assistant Director Mike Dalrymple said.

He said Dorchester Road is one of the primary entryways into North Charleston off I-26, where more than 84,000 vehicles travel each day, and the planned landscaping along the slopes will enhance densely developed Dorchester Road visually.

New plantings, which will not be selected until the city gets blessing from the state Department of Transportation for the project, will replace the grassy slopes that are there now, requiring less maintenance and helping prevent erosion, Dalrymple said.

On Rivers Avenue, the project is more extensive and could involve bricklike crosswalks, new trees and shrubs and greenery in the middle of Rivers Avenue, where a central asphalt turning lane exists now.

"Some of it depends on how far money will go and how much DOT will allow us to do in the right of way," Dalrymple said.

The actual designs and what they will entail have not been completed because the projects have not been put out for bid, but Dalrymple expects the work to be done within a year after the Department of Transportation signs off on an agreement to let the city make the improvements.

The city has received enhancement grants from DOT for the majority of the costs. The city is kicking in about $37,000 of the total project cost.

"We think this will beautify two significant areas of our city that are heavily traveled," said Shannon Praete, grants administrator for the city of North Charleston.

She said other beautification grants for other areas of the city should be forthcoming.

"Hopefully, this will be the first of many grants that will have a significant impact throughout the city along our major thoroughfares," she said.

Reach Warren Wise at 745-5850 or wwise@postandcourier.com.