By Kathleen Dayton
Staff Writer

A transportation consulting firm recently revealed some of its concepts for the widening of Highway 17, also known as Johnnie Dodds Boulevard, to members of the Charleston Metro Chamber of Commerce at its East Cooper Business Connection breakfast.

The project has three main goals: to build an interchange at Highway 17 and Bowman Road so traffic on Highway 17 can continue uninterrupted over the intersection, to widen Highway17 to six lanes and to create a boulevard-type design with sidewalks and curbs.

A bike path is planned for a landscaped parkway that would separate the six-lane highway from the northbound frontage road, a median that would be as wide as 30 feet in places.

Buildings in the area would be redeveloped over time to be situated close to the sidewalks, instead of set back from the highway behind vast parking lots.

Brad Morrison, Mount Pleasant’s transportation engineer, said the project is extremely important and is the most significant of the town’s many road improvement projects, which include the widening of Whipple and Bowman roads and the extension of Hungryneck Boulevard.

“U.S. 17 is really the only primary artery we have and it serves a multitude of functions—local, regional and statewide travel,” Morrison said. “U.S. 17 runs all the way from Myrtle Beach to Hilton Head. That’s why we’re developing the Hungryneck Boulevard corridor, because more and more demand is being placed on U.S. 17.”

Mount Pleasant launched the Johnnie Dodds Mobility Study in 2004, which received a massive amount of public input.

“It was a very controversial project,” Morrison said. “There were all kinds of discussions. There was a contingent that didn’t want any overpasses.”

As many as six overpasses had been considered to help guide traffic uninterrupted over the highway’s many intersections.  A year ago, town council made its final recommendation on the study, approving a design that would feature only one overpass, to be located at the

Bowman Road intersection.

Michele Sinkler, executive director of the East Cooper Planning Council, a citizens’ group advocating long-term solutions to growth-related issues, said her organization was pivotal in defeating the number of overpasses.

“We’re excited to see the consultants moving toward a multi-use, multi-lane boulevard…a thoroughfare that caters to various uses and users,” Sinkler said. “As we all know, the devil’s in the details. Details such as the width of the sidewalks, provision for on-street parking and maintaining vehicle speeds that make it safe for pedestrians are going to be very important elements of this design.”

TranSystems, a Kansas City, Mo.-based consulting firm with offices in Charleston, began working on design concepts for the project in late January. The most aggressive start date for construction is currently thought to be late winter of 2008 or early 2009, and planners say a completion date is not yet possible to predict.

Transportation consultant James Fisher, a senior associate and vice president of TranSystems, presented the concepts June 20 at the chamber’s breakfast. The town of Mount Pleasant plans to schedule its first public presentation of the plans sometime toward the middle or end of this month.

Charleston County has earmarked $70 million for the project, to be paid through the half-cent sales tax initiative. Although the project will be paid with county funds, Mount Pleasant Town Council is driving the process, Fisher said.

“One of the things that we were instructed to do by town council was not to build a freeway,” Fisher said. “We feel like the presence of landscaping and curbs brings in more of an urban feel and will be one of those things that will tend to slow the drivers down.”

While the speed limit posted on Highway 17 is 45 miles per hour, actual speeds on the highway are in excess of 50 miles per hour, he said.

Those kinds of speeds tend to move cars too quickly past local businesses, and Sinkler thinks the boulevard concept will invigorate the business community, she said.

Randy Solomon, who lives and works in Mount Pleasant, said when the project is completed it will be a huge improvement to the area. He has some concerns, however, about how much traffic might shunt from Highway 17 over to Coleman Boulevard during the construction process. Solomon’s business, First Southeast Investor Services Inc., is located on Coleman Boulevard.

“Right now, it is an easy exit off the (Ravenel) bridge,” he said.

Work on the project would be phased so that it won’t adversely impact businesses all at once, Fisher said. Other design concepts that have been proposed, such as traffic roundabouts at certain intersections, are still only ideas.

Solomon said he does not want to see a multi-lane traffic circle.

“The one-lane ones are bad enough,” Solomon said. “Everyone would have to go to a remedial driving course just to figure out how to use the thing. It would be like driving in downtown Rome or something.”

Myles Stempin, Mount Pleasant’s economic development coordinator, said the benefits of the widened highway will far outweigh any minor inconveniences businesses may incur during the construction period. Plans for the highway also will include improved access on and off the frontage roads, he said.

“Just like with the planned revitalization of Coleman Boulevard, it is going to present some phenomenal opportunities for businesses along Johnnie Dodds,” Stempin said.

“We have the opportunity to enhance what we have there, and I think it will present some new opportunities with new buildings as well as enhancing some of the existing space. It will be a more dynamic space and certainly a more impressive space, and that is always attractive to new business.”

Kathleen Dayton is a staff writer for the Business Journal. E-mail her at kdayton@charlestonbusiness.com.

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