Johns Island toll road could get thumbs up today

Image by Flickr user skalas2Image by 20081016digging.jpg

Update October 17: The proposal has failed.

The proposed Cross Island Expressway (aka Sea Islands Parkway) for Johns Island could get a major jump start tonight.

Read more stories on this subject in our Sea Islands Parkway topic page.Charleston County Council will consider a resolution to request that the S.C. Department of Transportation to "do all things necessary to or helpful to ... construction and operation of a limited-access cross-island toll road on Johns Island."

Unless you've been asleep for the last five months, you know the possibility of building a new road across Johns Island has stirred much controversy.

The reasoning in favor of it something like this: You can save the scenic road and do more to alleviate traffic by building Seabrook and Kiawah islands a new, direct route. And the reasoning against it: It's playing favorites for the wealthy and it will open vast new tracts of land to development and sprawl on Johns Island.

The Post and Courier has a good piece rounding things up, and our archives are worth a look for more info.

If you want to make your opinion heard go to the meeting at the Lonnie Hamilton III Public Services Building at 4045 Bridge View Drive in North Charleston. The meeting starts at 4:15 p.m.

If you can't make it and you're opposed to it, the Coastal Conservation League has an anti-Cross Island Expressway letter composition tool.

Here's a rough map of the proposed expressway route:[gmap line=#000000/2/0.6:32.749745112369084 , -80.03299713134766 + 32.74165978309797 , -80.02904891967773 + 32.73588409867885 , -80.03265380859375 + 32.726931048100624 , -80.04501342773438 + 32.70988888713546 , -80.04999160766602 + 32.68836489676853 , -80.06149291992188 + 32.673916355105845 , -80.079345703125 + 32.664668061867424 , -80.09908676147461 + 32.65643049484829 , -80.11436462402344 + 32.6486257837367 , -80.13839721679688 + 32.64905939667127 , -80.13805389404297 |zoom=11 |center=32.69775519529247,-80.06355285644531 |width=470px |height=350px |control=None |type=Map]