Inner loop plan facing obstacles

SUMMERVILLE — The two-mile-long, $15 million extension of the Berlin G. Myers Parkway to U.S. Highway 17A south of town might not be the end of the road.

A map of the comprehensive plan that goes to Town Council for a vote in June includes a dotted line from where the parkway ends on North Main Street over to U.S. Highway 78. That would complete about two-thirds of an "inner loop" bypass, one of two throughways designed to run traffic in circles around Summerville in a mini-version of the way it's circulated around a major city such as Atlanta.

Also known as the Maple Street Extension, the loop would be among the next round of projects considered by the Charleston Area Transportation Study Policy Committee — if money can be found. In 2005, it was budgeted to cost about $13 million.

"It's in the long-range transportation plan. It's a vision," Berkeley-Charleston-Dorchester Council of Governments senior planner Jeff Burns said of the extension.

The so-called "outer loop" isn't going anywhere quickly. That plan calls for running the Glenn McConnell Parkway from West Ashley to somewhere north of S.C. Highway 165, bringing it across the Ashley River, and running a bridge over to a widened Orangeburg Road and out to Interstate 26. So far, a lack of money and wetland obstacles have kept the Glenn McConnell Parkway from expanding beyond Bees Ferry Road.

The Maple Street Extension would face other obstacles. The extension was envisioned going through scrub pine, but subdivisions, businesses and a shopping center have sprung up over the years.

The Berlin G. Myers Parkway was conceived in the late 1960s. The current, south-of-town extension took 10 years to get from the planning table to the construction that starts this summer. In the interim, opposition from nearby property owners and conservation groups became intense.

"Is it (the Maple Street Extension) feasible? I don't know. Looking at aerial photographs there's not a clear-cut connection. There's so many ifs at this point," Burns said.

"All it is, is a line on a map with a budget number," said Russ Cornette, Summerville town engineer.

Even if the extension gets built, there still would be a lot of subdivisions between its end at U.S. 78 and the south-of-town end of the Berlin G. Myers Parkway some three miles away.

Mark Greenslit, president of the West End Neighborhood Group, part of the town's picturesque historic district, said the plan might dump traffic into the west end from Maple Street.

"It might mean more traffic bypasses the historic district and that would be a benefit," Greenslit said. But he has other concerns. "It may affect the quality of life in the neighborhood. As a group we've been pushing to get the town to protect the historic district, which is the heart of the town. We believe there's more to the historic district than old houses. We want to protect the historic ambiance."

Reach Bo Petersen at 937-5744 or bpetersen@postandcourier.com.