Emma Berry, our Communities & Transportation Project Manager joined Surge Radio to discuss the $2.3 billion I-526 Extension up for a vote this November as a transportation sales tax. They talked through induced demand and how highway expansions don’t help traffic, the projected damage to marshes, how the Mark Clark would cut through historic settlement communities, and how it’s the only priority project on the new half-cent sales tax.
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On November 5th, Charleston County residents will vote on a sales tax that prioritizes the outdated, overpriced, and destructive Mark Clark / I-526 Extension.
The I-526 Extension is the only priority project listed for this tax, meaning the money would first be spent to fund this project, draining funding from other priorities. This county has higher priorities, including completing road projects that were voted on in the 2016 referendum but are yet to be finished. Although funding for the Greenbelt program—which helps fund conservation projects for land protection and establish public access to land, bike, and pedestrian infrastructure—is listed on this tax, the allocation has been cut drastically compared to the 2016 and 2004 sales taxes, making it a bad deal.
If funded, the extension project would destroy 38 acres of wetlands; dump pollution into the Stono River; wipe out over 46 acres of the James Island County Park; increase suburban sprawl on rural Johns Island; and plow through the middle of historic settlement communities, displacing families who have been on the land for generations. This is not just a road, it is a threat to our environment and our Lowcountry way of life.
Emma Berry, our Communities & Transportation Project Manager joined Surge Radio to discuss the $2.3 billion I-526 Extension up for a vote this November as a transportation sales tax. They talked through induced demand and how highway expansions don’t help traffic, the projected damage to marshes, how the Mark Clark would cut through historic Black settlement communities, and how it’s the only priority project on the new half-cent sales tax.