SCDOT Finds Majority Support on 526 Extension

To build it or not to build it is a question that has been raging in the western parts of the Charleston Metropolitan area for decades.

On Monday the South Carolina Department of Transportation released the results of a survey of area residents showing more than two thirds of respondents support the SCDOT plan to finish building the I-526 extension.

S.C. House Speaker Bobbie Harrell, a Charleston resident, and long-time supporter of finishing the Mark Clark Expressway (I-526), issued the following statement following the release of the survey results:

"This poll reflects what we have long said, and what Lowcountry residents have long known - our community firmly supports the completion of 526.  Finishing 526 will greatly improve the lives of our citizens.  The people of the Lowcountry have voiced their support of this project.  This poll now makes it official - they want this road finished. 

"Faced with such overwhelming community support, the tactics and misinformation campaigns of those fighting to kill 526 are now left with no ground to stand on."

Charleston County Council Chairman Teddy Pryor, who has also supported finishing I-526 also issued a statement on the survey:

"The people who are affected have spoken overwhelmingly in favor of the Mark Clark Expressway. It is time to move on and complete this project."

Meanwhile opponents of the project, which have been running a Nix526 Facebook page since August 2010, are encouraging their 3,384 fans to send letters to SCDOT commissioners ahead of their scheduled Sept. 20 meeting to oppose the project.

Project supporters on the other hand are cheering the news of the survey results on their own Charlestonians for I-526 Facebook page.

The SCDOT survey was mailed to 5,000 randomly selected addresses in West Ashley, John's Island and James Island, according to SCDOT. The agency also used telephone and mail follow-ups on responses. Of the households receiving surveys in the mail, 2,189, or 44.5 percent responded.

Of the responses a total of 72.2 percent supported completing the road with SCDOT Alternate Route G, an option created during a 2009 study on the I-526 Extension project (see attached .pdf and images). That alternative switches the Mark Clark Expressway from an interstate highway to a four-lane divided parkway with a multi-use path. The parkway alternative would include a lower speed limit than the current 60-65 MPH limit along the existing portions of I-526.

The expressway's route from West Ashley to John's Island will not be affected regardless of which alternate route is ultimately chosen. Assuming the road extension is built — and all indications are that it will be constructed as the — several West Ashley neighborhoods near the current terminus of I-526 will be impacted.

Residents of the Oakland subdivision will feel the most impacts in West Ashley as the I-526 Extension will be routed directly across at least one street in the subdivision. The extension will also run adjacent to portions of the Citadel Woods, Stone Creek, Battery Haig and Waterway South neighborhoods. Portions of the Air Harbor and Capri Isles neighborhoods also fall within the Direct Impact area of the extension in West Ashley.

Alternate Route G also mirrors the route of several other alternate routes SCDOT devised in 2009 for much of its footprint across John's Island, and only diverges from the other routes to a significant degree as it bridges the Stono River heading onto James Island.

SCDOT surveys were mailed to residents living in the 29407, 29412, 29414, 29439, 29455, and 29487 ZIP Codes. In addition to an overall level of support, SCDOT notes that a majority of every group within the total also favored completing I-526.

For example SCDOT reports that a majority of respondents from within each ZIP code supported the project. The lowest level of support came from residents of Wadmalaw Island (29487) where 60 percent were in favor of it. James Island residents living in the 29412 ZIP Code posted the second lowest level of overall support at 62.8 percent.

SCDOT also noted that the older the respondent, the more likely he or she was to support the project, with support among those younger than 30 at 68 percent, those 30-44 at 69.4 percent, those 45-64 at 73.1 percent and those 65 and older at 80.4 percent.

Men are more likely than women to support the extension, 78.7 percent to 67.4 percent. Among black respondents 81.8 percent support the extension, the level of support among whites was 70.2 percent and the support among all other ethnic groups was 65.3 percent.