The Lowcountry Rapid Transit project (LCRT), the biggest overhaul to public transportation that the state has ever seen, has entered its final phase before construction, which is set to begin as early as 2026.
Led by the Berkeley-Charleston-Dorchester Council of Governments (BCDCOG), the 23-mile infrastructure project has been in development since 2016, when it started with little more than a roadmap — no pun intended. The next six years were spent on background planning, research and community engagement, a process that project leaders say is ongoing as the LCRT nears construction.
“Now, the engineer of record has begun to finalize the design,” said Mike Seekings, chairman of CARTA and Charleston City Council member. “We’re taking it from 30% of design completion to 100%. It’s hard to say when you’ll start to see actual dirt flying — I suspect once we get close to a final design we will do another round of community engagement.”
After a recent visit from the U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg and U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., an additional $100 million in federal funding was listed on President Joe Biden’s budget earlier this year specifically for the LCRT project. Seekings said it was no coincidence, and that national leaders were looking to Charleston to change the way the country views and manages public transportation.
Some pieces left behind
The design has already undergone some significant changes from the initial concept. While the core remains intact — a bus rapid transit system connecting North Charleston to downtown’s hospital district — the project suffered a significant loss in the cutting of bus stations linking the system to downtown Summerville.
A federal study estimated Summerville ridership to be too low for the project to extend that far north, according to Ron Mitchum, BCDCOG executive director. The low estimate put the entire project’s federal funding at risk, he said, so the decision was made to move LCRT ahead without the Summerville stations.
Connecting the LCRT line to downtown Summerville is still a long-term goal, however, Mitchum and Seekings agreed.
“The numbers didn’t work for Summerville,” Seekings said. “But we’re looking at routes to get there, and we will get there eventually. It just didn’t pencil out this time.”
Service from Summerville to the North Charleston Fairgrounds’ LCRT station will be provided through the TriCounty Link bus system, which services riders throughout Berkeley, Dorchester and Charleston counties. Some advocates, however, say this may not be enough.
“The LCRT is important, and we continue to support it in its current, diminished form; however, there are some serious defects in the current plan,” said local activist William Hamilton. “The line no longer reaches downtown Summerville or Lincolnville. It now stops at the fairgrounds and will rely on the proven-inadequate Link rural bus service to reach Summerville.”
A total transformation
Despite some changes, the most significant portions of the original idea are still in place, including dedicated bus lanes from Medical Plaza Drive in Goose Creek to Reynolds Avenue in North Charleston, traffic light prioritization for LCRT buses and several new pedestrian access points along the Rivers Avenue corridor in North Charleston.
“Obviously, it’s going to be great for the mass transit system, but it has a lot of safety improvements along the whole corridor too,” Mitchum said. “There are miles-long stretches of Rivers Avenue without a single crosswalk; we have a lot of areas missing sidewalks. This will give a lot of people moving on foot or on bikes a safe way to get around, so there are a lot of benefits even for folks who don’t ride the bus.”
Big changes to come include a massive undertaking at one of the most dangerous intersections in the state — Remount Road and Rivers Avenue. According to a video essay on the LCRT project website, the intersection will be changed to prevent traffic on Remount Road from turning left onto Rivers, protecting bus lanes and pedestrian crosswalks while keeping traffic flowing along the corridor.
Project leaders say they are already looking ahead to construction and working to ensure there is as little disruption to traffic flow as possible.
“It’s going to look like a construction project,” Seekings said. “But it is going to be done in a way that will be sensitive to the areas it will be going through. The changes are going to be so much for the better, especially once you get to the North Charleston corridor. It’s going to be a game changer, and the hope is that it won’t be that interruptive.”
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