2 major road projects well under way

The first two large road construction projects under RoadWise, Charleston County's road building program, will be complete by the end of next year, Kurt Taylor, assistant administrator for transportation, said Tuesday night.

County voters in 2004 approved an additional half-cent sales tax for road projects. They also approved 14 specific large projects in referendums in 2004 and 2006.

Taylor, who heads the county's transportation sales tax programs, made a presentation on the status of those large projects to County Council.

The county expects to take in $1.3 billion in extra sales tax money during the next 25 years, with about $221 million to preserve green space and $1.1 billion for roads and mass transit.

Taylor said he expects improvements to the intersection of Folly Road and Maybank Highway on James Island to be the first large project completed. That will happen by May 2010, he said.

And he expects a section of the Palmetto Commerce Parkway, which runs from around Ladson Road to Ashley Phosphate Road in North Charleston, to be finished by December 2010.

Ten projects are in the planning and design phases, he said, and all of them should be complete by the middle of 2012.

Two projects are on hold.

Work on a portion of the James Island Connector that would connect to the proposed completion of Interstate 526 can't move forward until the state Department of Transportation decides how it will proceed with a plan to extend the interstate to Johns and James islands.

And a plan to widen Maybank Highway on Johns Island is on hold while the county and the city of Charleston sort out plans for that section of the road.

Taylor said before crews can begin construction, projects must be planned and designed.

The design process has four phases, he said, one of which is acquiring the right of way on parcels of land adjacent to the project. That can be time-consuming, he said.

"If you have to buy land from somebody, that's a negotiation process," he said.

In other business, council:

• Approved $2.5 million in an annual list of smaller RoadWise projects that include bike and pedestrian paths, drainage improvements, intersection improvements and paving. It also approved about $5 million to continue projects already under way.

• Awarded a $179,000 contract to Truluck Construction Co. to build a dedicated right-turn lane from I-526 to S.C. Highway 7 to prevent traffic from backing up. Money for the project will come from the state gas tax through the Charleston County Transportation Committee.

• Voted 7-2 on second reading in favor of amending zoning regulations that would allow higher stacks of trash in the Bees Ferry Landfill.