Fix The Drainage, Fix The Traffic

On a summer morning 10 years ago, I glanced at our daily newspaper and was alarmed by the front page headline which reported on the thousands of new homes projected to be built along the Bees Ferry Rd. corridor near our Shadowmoss home. I shouted across the house to my wife Robin, “You need to see this!”
We knew right then that we needed to move. Traffic was already untenable. It would take Robin as much as 15 minutes just to get out of the neighborhood in the morning. Our pharmacist, who lived in nearby MacLaura Hall, said it took him an hour to drop his daughter off at First Baptist Church School downtown.
An hour after digesting the news about future growth, I called our realtor Nell Postell and said we wanted to put our house up for sale and find a house closer to downtown and I-26. She showed us some wonderful properties in the Old Towne area and we decided to buy a home in the Sandhurst subdivision. We have never regretted the decision!
In addition to viewing the new development as a sure traffic nightmare, Robin and I knew that it would create a flooding problem. Much of the acreage upon which the Grand Oaks, Hunt Club, Bolton’s Landing and Carolina Bay subdivisions now sit consisted of wetlands. Wetlands are nature’s best drainage system, with soil and plant life ideal for absorbing runoff rainwater. Replacing it with houses and pavement was a recipe for disaster.
In 2008, heavy rains flooded out the Bridge Pointe condominiums within Shadowmoss. The repairs were costly and took months to complete. The City of Charleston engineer assured residents that the drainage problem would be corrected. On Aug. 31, the disaster repeated itself. Many residents along the Bees Ferry Rd. corridor could not get to work on time or get their children to school. The daily newspaper had the nerve to characterize this event as “nuisance flooding”.
Mayoral candidate Maurice Washington believes that the drainage problem is unacceptable and that the problem must be correct soon. He wrote on Facebook the day of the flood, “Rapid development has disrupted the natural hydrological cycle in some areas of West Ashley. Soil and vegetation have been replaced by pavement and houses.”
Washington says that the drainage problem and the traffic problem must be solved regionally. He vows to work with our state Legislative Delegation, Charleston and Berkeley County Councils, the St. Andrews and James Island Public Service Districts and the citizens in our area to come up with common sense solutions.
Two immediate remedies for the flooding problem are more frequent maintenance on storm drains, drainage pipes and ditches, which are clogged with silt and debris. Some even have plants growing in them. Planting vegetative buffers in parking lots and around drainage ponds is another cost-effective solution.
We also need a moratorium on new growth until we have the infrastructure in place to support it. The proposed Long Savannah development near Grand Oaks may include up to 6000 homes. There is also a plan under consideration to extend the McConnell Pkwy all the way to I-26 in Jedburg. That opens the door to more huge subdivisions and hundreds of 18-wheeler trucks rolling through West Ashley each day.
A common-sense solution to our road problem is to enable local governments to take control over existing state roads with maintenance funds attached. Let’s face it, the SC Department of Transportation (SCDOT) can’t even cut the grass or maintain the drainage ditches in its inventory. Local governments will do a much better job and be more accountable to the citizens.
None of us in West Ashley should accept the status quo. Homes that are flooded, businesses that can’t open and children who can’t get to school do not represent a “nuisance”. People are also frustrated about being stuck in traffic every weekday. There are hundreds of car wrecks along Sam Rittenberg Blvd each year because of frustrated drivers running red lights at major intersections.
Let’s demand solutions to our drainage and traffic problems – immediately! We don’t need more studies to get it right. Maintain the drainage pipes and ditches. Transfer control of roads to local governments. Local government officials can’t get SCDOT bureaucrats to respond to known problems, ranging from lowering speed limits near dangerous intersections to fixing potholes. We deserve better!
John Steinberger is the former chairman of the Charleston County Republican Party, a leading Fair Tax advocate, and a West Ashley resident. He can be reached at John.steinberger@scfairtax.org.