UPDATE! Charleston County voters prioritize Sea Islands in referendum vote:

Charleston County voters have made it clear: they prioritize our Sea Islands, Settlement Communities, and Lowcountry way of life more than a destructive road project.

The Coastal Conservation League is proud of voters who stood up for our environment, community, and future by voting down the unbalanced and unfair 2024 special sales and use tax.

We now have an opportunity to come together to select and implement priority traffic solutions while the current half-cent sales tax comes to fulfillment. Before the current tax expires in 2027, we have an opportunity to prioritize the highest-need road projects that will address traffic congestion today. We look forward to working with citizens and Charleston County to come together to decide what road projects should be prioritized to create a better referendum in 2026 — one that prioritizes the completion of effective traffic solutions, restores the Greenbelt program’s purchasing power, supports public transit, considers flooding on our roadways, and promotes pedestrian safety.

In the meantime, we hope to see Charleston County complete the projects on the 2016 referendum project list, such as the Main Road Flyover and Main Road Segment C projects. In addition, the County should recommit to Main Road Segment B, an area that will need improvements to help the Main Road Flyover function to its full potential. There also must be a stronger emphasis on targeted, less expensive road and intersection improvements that would help traffic flow effectively, like completing the southern pitchfork on Maybank Highway.

In addition, as we traveled the County, we heard the clarion call of community members seeking pedestrian safety measures, such as sidewalks along Sol Legare Road on James Island, and along byways through North Charleston. These priority safety measures must be funded for the safety and security of County residents.

The Conservation League is grateful for all of the community members who worked tirelessly in this effort — signing postcards, sharing social media posts, putting up yard signs, writing letters to the editor, passing out flyers, joining rallies and press conferences, and educating your friends and neighbors — all to protect the unique character of our beloved Lowcountry from destructive interstates and suburban sprawl.

We look forward to working together for smarter solutions for our communities.

visit saveourseaislands.com to learn more

On November 5th, Charleston County residents voted on a sales tax that prioritized the outdated, overpriced, and destructive Mark Clark / I-526 Extension. 

The I-526 Extension was 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—was listed on this tax, the allocation was been cut drastically compared to the 2016 and 2004 sales taxes, making it a bad deal.

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.

Check out a story map from our partners at the Southern Environmental Law Center documenting the harm that the I-526 Extension would cause for our communities and natural resources in Charleston County >> I-526/Mark Clark Extension Story Map

THE PROPOSED ROUTE CROSSES LOW-LYING AREAS THAT ALREADY EXPERIENCE SEVERAL FEET OF WATER DURING EVEN A LOW-GRADE HURRICANE. DURING INTENSE STORMS, THE MARSH SURROUNDING JAMES AND JOHNS ISLANDS PROTECTS COMMUNITIES BY ABSORBING EXCESS WATER FROM HIGH TIDES AND RAIN. DESTROYING THESE WETLANDS BY REPLACING THEM WITH A BRIDGE AND CONCRETE ROADWAY WILL TAKE AWAY THESE PROTECTIONS.

MANY RESIDENTS WHO LIVE ALONG THE ROUTE WILL BE FORCED OUT OF THEIR HOMES AND OFF THEIR FAMILY LAND. OTHERS WILL LOSE PORTIONS OF THEIR LAND AND END UP WITH A MASSIVE ROADWAY—COMPLETE WITH HIGHWAY TRAFFIC AND LIGHTS—IN THEIR YARD. HIGHWAYS THIS CLOSE TO HOMES CHANGE THESE COMMUNITIES FOREVER. LIKE MANY HIGHWAY PROJECTS IN AMERICA, THE I-526 EXTENSION WOULD DISPROPORTIONATELY AFFECT SETTLEMENT COMMUNITIES. THE PROPOSED ROUTE CUTS THROUGH SEVEN BLOCKS OF HISTORIC NEIGHBORHOODS, SEPARATING FAMILIES BY A HIGHWAY.

THE BELOVED JAMES ISLAND COUNTY PARK IS DIRECTLY IN THE PATH OF THE PROPOSED ROUTE. THESE FEW MILES OF ROAD WILL DESTROY OVER 46 ACRES OF THE PARK—THE EQUIVALENT OF 24 FOOTBALL FIELDS’ WORTH OF SPACE.

WHILE HEAVY TRAFFIC ON I-526 IS A KNOWN ISSUE, THE PROPOSED EXTENSION WILL NOT FIX THIS PROBLEM. IN FACT, IT IS LIKELY TO WORSEN IT BY INTRODUCING MORE CARS ONTO TWO-LANE RURAL ROADS AND PUSHING CARS INTO AREAS ARE ALREADY STRUGGLING TO MANAGE EXISTING TRAFFIC.

THE PROJECT WOULD ADD TWO MORE BRIDGES OVER THE STONO RIVER, LEADING TO EVEN MORE POLLUTION LIKE TIRE PARTICLES, OIL, AND MICROPLASTICS DRAINING INTO THE RIVER AND SURROUNDING MARHSLAND. THIS WOULD ALSO SIGNIFICANTLY AND PERMANENTLY DAMAGE HABITAT FOR PLANTS AND WILDLIFE. ONCE IT’S GONE, IT’S GONE FOREVER.

THE PROPOSED ROUTE WILL SEND MORE CARS TO EXIT ON CALHOUN STREET, RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE MEDICAL DISTRICT, WHERE THERE IS ALREADY HEAVY TRAFFIC AND SOME OF THE WORST FLOODING. THIS STREET ALREADY OPERATES AT ITS MAXIMUM CAPACITY OF CARS EVERY DAY; IT SIMPLY CANNOT TAKE MORE.

SEE THE IMPACTS FOR YOURSELF

BEFORE & AFTER RENDERINGS

Toggle through the images to see what the roadways and communities look like now and what they would look like if the I-526 extension were built.

AT-RISK MAPS

Toggle through these pages to see where the primary, secondary, and tertiary impacts will occur. Primary impacts are full property takes/acquisitions, partial property takes/acquisitions, compromising development or redevelopment potential, loss of primary direct access, loss of tree canopy/existing character, and separation of neighborhoods. Secondary impacts are loss/degradation of access due to medians or proximity to ramps, eventual change/increase in land use intensity or use, direct traffic increase, and direct noise increase. Tertiary impacts are visual impacts from structures, loss of habitat or wildlife corridors, character change in the area, indirect increase in noise, and increase in commercial traffic intrusion.

CHARLESTON COUNTY: ON THE BALLOT

VOTE NO to save our sea islands, Stono River & settlement communities.

AT THE END OF THE BALLOT, VOTE NO ON LOCAL QUESTIONS 1 & 2

GET THE FACTS

Let’s set the record straight about what the Mark Clark/I-526 Extension truly means for the fate of our Lowcountry way of life. 

I-526 will NOT solve our traffic problem 

If constructed, the I-526 Extension would dump over 50,000 cars onto Calhoun Street daily We’ve seen this before, and we know it doesn’t work. Building a highway means more traffic which will exacerbate sprawl on our rural sea islands and cause more congestion throughout James Island, West Ashley, and downtown Charleston. 

I-526 will NOT improve hurricane evacuation safety/speed 

The proposed route is only 9 miles of road and connects to existing coastal roads. This won’t speed up any evacuation process, especially downtown or on the other side of the county in Mount Pleasant. In fact, the I-526 route will run through low-lying areas and destroy our natural storm barrier wetlands, exacerbating flood risk in already vulnerable communities. The I-526 route doesn’t consider flooding impacts or sea level rise, and will already be outdated by the time it would be built. 

 I-526 will NOT immediately improve regional infrastructure  

The ribbon cutting for the Extension won’t be for at least a decade, and that’s just phase one. Taxpayers’ money should be put to use for traffic and safety improvements the county has already identified but not yet funded. We could see the results far sooner, and for fractions of the cost. A traffic study from the BCDCOG shows in 2040 with the construction of I-526 a regional gridlock will result.  

 We don’t know if Charleston County will follow through with their plans  

We need to hold Charleston County accountable for the promises they have already made. Only 1 of the 17 projects from the 2016 tax have been completed. I-526 is the ONLY priority project on the 2024 special sales and use tax referendum, draining funding from all other projects and reducing the greenbelt allocation. This is a bad deal for Charleston and it’s time that Charleston County let it go and commit to forward-looking solutions. 

 This is NOT our only chance to pass infrastructure and safety improvements for our county  

 We have the opportunity to make better choices in 2026. We need to vote NO now, and come up with a better list of priority projects that better benefits our county and communities. The half-cent sales tax from 2004 will not run out until 2027, at the earliest, and the tax from 2016 will last as long as 2041. In the meantime, Charleston County can follow through with projects they already committed to complete. 

 I-526 will NOT support the growing population of our coast 

 South Carolina is the fastest-growing state, and as development increases, we need to protect what makes this place so special. The I-526 Extension would destroy our longstanding and existing communities, and invite development to erase our rural character. We should prioritize preventing the displacement of our generational families and further sprawl on James and Johns Islands. 

I-526 threatens all the reasons why we love the Lowcountry. Once it’s gone, it’s gone.  

THIS IS A BAD DEAL FOR CHARLESTON

LEARN THE HISTORY

Dig deep into the background information here.