Road issues to require teamwork
Charleston, county focus on Johns Is.
By Tenisha Waldo
The concept at a glance
Roadwise has developed this conceptual design for widening Maybank Highway, according to a county administrative summary:
--Widen Maybank Highway between the Stono River Bridge and River Road from the existing two-lane ditch section to a four-lane curb and gutter section with a wide natural median of variable width. The wide natural median is proposed in order to maintain the existing grand tree canopy.
--Widen Maybank Highway between River Road and the intersection at Main and Bohicket roads from the existing two-lane ditch section to a four-lane curb-and-gutter section with a raised, landscaped median. The median will be 15 feet wide and constructed where access conditions permit.
--Construct a 10-foot-wide asphalt multiuse path on the south side of Maybank Highway. The path is proposed to meander around significant grand trees and will be separated from the roadway by a landscaped buffer of variable width.
The train is on the track. Now which direction will it go?
The city of Charleston and Charleston County have opposite visions for the future of Johns Island. But now the key decision makers are getting in sync, saying they'll work together to solve traffic woes on the rural sea island.
"We need to get this right," County Councilman Curtis Bostic said Thursday during council's Planning and Public Works Committee meeting. "This is a major project and major dollars."
Consultants with Roadwise, the county's half-cent sales tax traffic group, showed council members conceptual plans for widening Maybank Highway. Roadwise is suggesting making the highway five lanes with a landscaped median, and a two-way left turn lane would be built on busy stretches.
But Charleston Mayor Joe Riley is pushing the city's plan for a village-like grid system that would diffuse traffic through networks of smaller roads, instead of having a single, widened main road. "Our concept is to require connections so that you don't always have to go out on the main road, Maybank, to tend to things on Johns Island," he said.
County Council directed the planning and transportation staff to collaborate with their city counterparts and find ways to meld the different development visions.
"We can't figure out whether we need a four-lane or a five-lane road unless we know what we want businesses and property along Maybank Highway to look like 20 years from now," Councilwoman Colleen Condon said. "Those two have to be made side by side, or else we have a great land-use plan that's going to be destroyed by the idea of putting asphalt down."
The county and city staffs are to report back to council in two weeks. But several lingering questions will likely take longer to answer, particularly about paying for turnabouts from original plans.
First, the county might have to seek voter approval, because voters already approved the widening project as part of a 2004 bond referendum about spending half-cent money.
Secondly, county officials say it's unclear whether the CHATS committee of the Berkeley-Charleston-Dorchester Council of Governments would have to sign off on any new plans. About $15 million in federal money for the project is filtered by the state and then distributed through the local transportation committee. There are specified guidelines for how that money can be used.
One requirement for federal dollars says a traffic study must be completed. It took the county about 90 days to do its traffic study, for which Roadwise consultants considered five alternatives. The city worked with a renowned traffic engineer on a comprehensive growth plan but has not had an actual traffic study done for its proposed grid system.
Christopher Morgan, city planning director, told County Council members Thursday that they plan to have a detailed analysis done on how roads would connect in a grid. "We're very confident this could work for Johns Island," he said.
The Maybank Highway widening project has been in the works for the past six years. Riley said the city changed course after it worked with the public and found a better solution.
Councilman Dickie Schweers said he enjoys driving on Johns Island and thinks the city's plan could help preserve the island's character.
Councilman Paul Thurmond said the grid system might work if a cross-island parkway is built.
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Bostic said he would like to know more about right-of-way acquisition and costs of sustaining roads for both the city's and county's plans.
Condon said she received nearly 300 e-mails after Sunday's Post and Courier story about plans to widen Maybank Highway. Most were in favor of developing a grid pattern, she said.
Thursday, concerned residents, conservationists and transportation activists flooded the fairly small committee room to see what the council would decide about Johns Island's fate.
Tom Bradford, director of Charleston Moves, a transportation advocacy group, asked the council to approve pedestrian-friendly transportation options that encourage cycling and walking possibilities and take cars off the roads.
Hamilton Davis of the Coastal Conservation League said it makes sense for the city and county staffs to collaborate and that he is "hopeful that the conclusion they come to and the recommendations they make will reflect the city's plan."
On the Web
If you want to make comments to RoadWise about plans to widen Maybank Highway, go to www.ccroadwise.org. Comments will be incorporated if the project enters the preliminary design phase; current plans are conceptual.
--See the city's plan at www.charlestoncity.info. Look under the City Departments, Boards and Commissions tab for Planning & Neighborhoods. Go to Charrette Central and the Johns Island Community Plan sections.
--RoadWise's Web site on the project is at www.ccroadwise.org/maybank_wide.html.
--Charleston Moves' Web site opposing the project is at www.charlestonmoves.org.
Reach Tenisha Waldo at 937-5744 or twaldo@postandcourier.com.
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Comments
charlestonian (anonymous) says...
A grid system will bring in just as much if not more development. They talking about making more interconnecting roads, and creating interconnects across land that doesn't have any road system to it so it hasn't been desirable for houses. So any untouched land that didn't have roads to it will then be develop-able.
And Joe's quote "Our concept is to require connections so that you don't always have to go out on the main road, Maybank, to tend to things on Johns Island," Has he ever spent any time on Johns Island? What things can you "tend to" on Johns Island that don't involve driving on Maybank highway or the other major roads? Is there shopping centers or restaurants hidden away in the middle of the island somewhere that I haven't heard about?
February 29, 2008 at 7:20 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
LocalHero (anonymous) says...
"PalmettoMan" said:
"How about if the P&C got their names and posted them? And those 300 emails Condon said she got - we need all complete emails posted like on a website for all to see. After all, they are public record and are clearly not exempt under the FOIA from disclosure."
Ironic, since we're all posting here anonymously....
February 29, 2008 at 7:45 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
theronce (anonymous) says...
Unfortunately, Johns Island is probably doomed with only "sooner" or "later" being the real question. The old Johns Island population will eventually be supplanted by new arrivals who, like they have done to Mount Pleasant, Summerville, and other areas, will destroy what they have come to enjoy. We look at what we had and regret what we have lost in what is now here. They look at what they had and love what they have here now.
February 29, 2008 at 8:39 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
longview (anonymous) says...
No one wants to see John's Island go the way of James. The development that has occurred has been pretty overwhelming but we all agree could be much more intense. New roads = new growth.
Proper zoning is the solution to prevent more development.
Personnaly, I'd hate to see John's island carved up but what happens if nothing is done? Stagnation and status quo are not good options.
Allow the road(s) to be widened or rerouted and then protect what can be protected.....just an idea.
February 29, 2008 at 9:38 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
pompusmaximus (anonymous) says...
First of all let me break the cycle of the typical Riley bashing that is posted daily on this website. A grid system is by far a better way to deal with traffic. The grid will essentially spread the traffic out over a wider base instead of concentrating it on one massive highway. It will also allow for more pedestrian friendly deveopment to occur throughout the area. If we just have another five lane highway then the area will just turn out looking like Sam Rittenburg Blvd. Do you really want to see another Sam Rittenburg Blvd? or would you like to see a grid system that eases the burden on one single highway and spreads thinner across the board.
February 29, 2008 at 10:40 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
charlestonian (anonymous) says...
@pompusmaximus
Apparently you are not familiar with Johns ISLAND. It's an Island with only two bridges connecting it to the mainland, and one main road connecting those two mains roads to the bridge. Those main roads are clogged with people getting on and off the ISLAND. Creating a grid of roads on the ISLAND isn't going to help with traffic that is going on and off the ISLAND. All it is going to do is dump the cars onto the main roads that are already clogged. There has to be a widening of the main roads before we improve the roads that lead to them. For instance the 4 lane bridge to James Island needs to have the 4 lanes extended to River road before anything happens.
February 29, 2008 at 11:30 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
PHiers (anonymous) says...
As a resident of one of those "evil" city annexed plots of land that became an equally "evil" neighborhood on Johns Isl. let me tell you that we do not want to become part of a grid system that encourages (forces) thru traffic. How often do you hear complaints from homeowners in neighborhoods all over the tri-county area who have folks cutting through their neighborhood to avoid the traffic on the main roads? If the city has their way all the 1/2 cent tax money will be wasted on this "grid" system and then after the neighborhoods complain about speeders and stop sign runners for a few years the speed humps will appear as well as road blocks (i.e. Stocker Dr in S. Windemere, Avondale, Burns Down, Creek Point, Rivers Point, Cross Creek, Mikell Dr, etc). Then 5 yrs later the folks will go back to the county begging for relief from the traffic on Maybank Hwy and will be told the money has already been spent!
Only a very small percentage of the residents of Johns Isl, Seabrook Isl, or Kiawah Isl actually work there. Most of us commute off the islands where most of the jobs are. If the plan is to keep Johns Isl fairly rural, then there will never be many decent paying jobs on Johns Isl, nor will there be many retail stores for shopping. Thus the majority of the island population will always be forced to leave the island to work, to shop, to go to the doctor, etc.
That doesn't work well with the city's grid system concept!
Creating a parkway similar to the Betsy Kerrison Pkwy would give the look of two oneway roads with a wide avenue of trees inbetween.
February 29, 2008 at 12:59 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
pompusmaximus (anonymous) says...
You are both so wrong that it makes me sad inside. I was always in support for John's Island residents until they say idiotic things like "lets widen roads!" Road systems are supposed to follow a hierarchy whether on an island or not. (notice how I didn't capitalize island to make a point)There is not a clear hierarchy of roads on Johns island therefore everybody dumps at once onto the highway. Widening roads is like a fat guy buying a longer belt instead of loosing the weight to begin with. Just google it and you will be amazed as to what you can learn. Hopefully somebody with a city planning degree from Clemson can lay down the law here.
February 29, 2008 at 1:47 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
charlestonian (anonymous) says...
So if you don't widen the roads leading on and off the Island where the issues are what does creating grid roads on the Island do to fix that issue? Ok, grids would help you to get to the main roads faster but those main roads are still two lane so there is your bottleneck. A grid would help if it wasn't an Island and everyone was trying to get on and off it with only two bridges and two roads to the bridges.
February 29, 2008 at 2:15 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
buttercup (anonymous) says...
To all the residents on Johns Island.Fight Fight Fight for your Island and your way of life.The Island is so beautiful let it stay that way.I lived there for a long time I do miss it and all the beauty.
February 29, 2008 at 6:40 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
icbmman (anonymous) says...
PalmettoMan, clearly you are a deluded pinhead. Nice of you to hijack the thread as a good troll does and treat everyone here that disagrees with you with hatred. Get a life, moron.
March 1, 2008 at 11:45 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
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