I-526 expansion moves ahead amidst increased flooding

Against a backdrop of growing flood risk, a committee of state lawmakers on Dec. 5 unleashed $75 million to the State Infrastructure Bank to fund the first phase of the controversial Interstate 526 extension. The project, now slated to cost at least $2.3 billion, was first proposed about a half-century ago. With the Joint Bond Review Committee’s nearly unanimous approval of preliminary funding, however, the eight-mile long extension is moving forward.

The $75 million unlocked by the state will match $75 million already pledged by the Charleston County Council toward the project, totaling $150 million directly from taxpayer dollars.

“What bothers me about this is the fact that the voters have not signed off on this,” said S.C. Rep. Gilda Cobb-Hunter, D-Orangeburg, who abstained from the motion.

Indeed, some Charleston County residents say they’re concerned that lengthening the road, also known as the Mark Clark Expressway, because it might only exacerbate increased Lowcountry flooding at the expense of its ecosystem — and its people.

Charleston county council split on funding

The Charleston City Paper reached out to the nine members of Charleston County Council for more information on their positions about funding the roadway versus anti-flooding strategies. Only five — Kylon Middleton of West Ashley, chairman Herb Sass of Mount Pleasant, Henry Darby of North Charleston, Robert Wehrman of North Charleston and Larry Kobrovsky of Sullivan’s Island — responded. Those who wouldn’t discuss the future of how the county spends its infrastructure money were council members Jenny Honeycutt of James Island, Brantley Moody of West Ashley, Joe Boykin of Johns Island and Teddie Pryor of North Charleston.

Kobrovsky, who voted against the county’s $75 million initial share of the project, said he thought the state’s Dec. 5 decision to match the county’s funding was fiscally irresponsible, adding that money spent to build the expansion could be devoted toward mitigating flooding — and addressing already-existing traffic concerns.

“I’m the only council person who’s been a champion for climate change,” said Middleton, who missed the phase one funding vote due to illness. Wehrman noted he is not in favor of the I-526 expansion and that preventing flooding is about “the type of development patterns we encourage — particularly through road and infrastructure projects.”

Sass, an advocate for the extension, said officials have claimed the expressway will “really increase the mobility for everybody else in West Ashley and on James Island.”

Darby, who also opposed devoting taxpayer dollars to the highway, advocated for more public transportation, such as mass transit railway — and for the county to confront its growing flood risk. “$2.3 billion is more than enough to repair all the drainage problems within the entirety of Charleston County,” he added.

Sales tax referendums, lack of transparency

While the state has already pledged up to $420 million for the extension, it’s up to Charleston County taxpayers to come up with the rest, said Robby Maynor, communities and transportation program director at the Coastal Conservation League.

As a result, county council has proposed a November 2024 ballot referendum asking voters to authorize another half-cent sales tax which funds the project’s remaining $2 billion. Currently, county taxpayers have approved two half-cent sales tax referendums, one of which is set to expire in two years. However, if the tax isn’t passed, the $150 million spent on the first stage of the extension will essentially be thrown away, Kobrovsky said.

If the 2024 sales tax referendum passed, it would replace the expiring half penny tax, meaning the overall sales tax people would pay would be the same, explained council chairman Sass. The difference is that a significant portion of the new half-cent tax would go toward the expansion. “It’ll still be a full penny tax,” said Sass.

Sales tax is considered regressive because it is largely shouldered by lower-income residents, who spend around 75% of their income on items included in the tax. In contrast, wealthy individuals with more disposable income spend an average of about 17% of taxable income on items covered by tax.

And Maynor noted that the road isn’t of equal value to everyone in the Lowcountry, either. The new half-cent tax would mean everyone across the county would be funding “one single special-interest road” in West Ashley and Johns Island, he said, regardless of whether they intended to use it.

Furthermore, Maynor said the county hasn’t exactly been transparent about how funds have been used from the previous two referendums.

“There is no evidence that the existing funding has been used to build the projects” included in the earlier half-cent raises, he added, questioning why “voters would feel confident in reauthorizing an additional tax when [the county hasn’t] even shown how they’ve utilized the previous.”

Nonetheless, Sass claimed the council did follow through on every project on the first sales tax-driven docket. He added that the county has “built a couple of those roads [funded by the second half-cent tax],” and a few are “under construction right now.”

Suburban sprawl threatens wetlands, advocates claim

The S.C. Department of Transportation (SCDOT) has claimed that the current preferred route of the I-526 extension would minimize wetland and stream damage, noting officials would “mitigate” for impacts considered “unavoidable.”

But even with SCDOT’s compensation efforts, “naturally occurring wetlands are sponges for storm water and help reduce flood risk. We would be destroying those to build this [extension],” Maynor said.

He added that the lengthened interstate would potentially generate more suburban sprawl — which might damage wetlands even further. What’s more, Johns Island, where some of the development would occur, is “the heart of the Gullah/Geechee culture on the Sea Islands, and one of the only remaining rural sea islands in Charleston County,” Maynor said.

Sass, however, disputed the allegation that the highway would increase sprawl. Johns Island is “already 20% within the city of Charleston, and that part is being developed. And we have nothing to do with that,” he said.

Mass transit, alternatives

Even though a vote against the 2024 sales tax referendum would stop the extension, it might also come at a price: The half-cent replacement sales tax referendum also includes funding for green space projects and 50% of the Lowcountry’s mass transit funding for the Charleston Area Regional Transportation Authority (CARTA). Without the tax, CARTA “would have to cut services and curtail operations,” said Berkeley-Charleston-Dorchester Council of Governments Executive Director Ron Mitchum during one county council meeting. In other words, killing the highway expansion could put mass transit and parks projects on the chopping block.

Maynor said to combat this problem, the community should be investing in public transit as an alternative to highways. More mass transit, Maynor added, would address congestion and mitigate flood risk.