Hundreds piled into the Holliday Alumni Center at The Citadel on Wednesday to witness a county government presentation of a plan to convert a northbound U.S. Hwy. 17 lane of the bridge linking West Ashley to the peninsula to bicycle and pedestrian usage.
City and county officials and politicians took to the rostrum, as well as a traffic engineer to better explain the plan. Public input was not allowed, as it was an informational meeting only.
The plan would designate the harbor side lane for bikers and walkers, and according to the engineer, only add a handful of seconds to morning commutes, when traffic over the bridge was at its worst.
Estimated cost of the project was reported to be between $2-4 million.
The project is set to accomplish four main goals: accommodate multimodal transportation to and from the peninsula, use existing infrastructure, and have minimum impacts on traffic times and on intersections in West Ashley.
The presentation also provided a digital animated rendering of the project.
It shows lighter-than-usual vehicle traffic flowing from West Ashley over the bridge and onto the peninsula through an expanded intersection with Lockwood Boulevard.
Future public meetings will be scheduled at a later date, and will welcome more public input.
Fore more information on the proposed Ashley River Boke Lane, visit:
roads.charlestoncounty.org/projects/
(843) 766-WEST (9378)
publisher@westof.net
