MORNING HEADLINES | Charleston County is weighing whether to put a transportation sales tax extension on the 2026 ballot, adding an estimated $4.25 billion that the half-percent sales tax would raise — if voters approve it.
Supporters hope to create a blueprint that will satisfy enough people in enough parts of the county that the referendum would pass in the November election.
So far nearly 4,300 people have filled out the county’s brief survey, and most left comments.
Residents approved a higher sales tax in 2004 and in 2016. But the last time the county put a transportation sales tax on the ballot, in 2024, it was defeated by a nearly 2-to-1 margin, largely due to the referendum on the Mark Clark Extension, which would have connected Interstate 526 to the James Island Connector.
Among the largest proposed projects are an overpass on Rivers Avenue in North Charleston ($175.9 million), Charleston’s Battery Extension ($225 million), Mount Pleasant’s U.S. Highway 17 intersection with Houston Northcutt Boulevard ($230 million) and the widening of U.S. Highway 17 from Main Road to S.C. Highway 162 in the western part of the county ($220 million).
The county survey is at charlestontransportation.com/survey through April 10.
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