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Army Corps’ report reveals access road plan
By Dan McCue
Staff Writer
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers released its final environmental impact statement on the S.C. State Ports Authority’s planned terminal at the old Charleston Naval Base, revealing for the first time the preferred plan for an access route to the facility.
According to the report, the preferred plan is to create a four-lane limited access highway, a local access road and a new access road to the Cooper River Marina. While passenger cars will be able to get onto Interstate 26 via the local access road, trucks using the terminal will not be able to use the local access road.
As outlined in the corps’ report, the only way trucks will be able to enter or leave the terminal is by taking the new limited access highway directly to and from I-26, keeping them off local streets.
Construction of the port access road will require the closure of the I-26/Spruill Avenue interchange at Exit 218. However, an earlier plan that would have also closed the I-26/North Meeting Street interchange at Exit 217 has been abandoned.
Instead, improvements to North Meeting Street, as well as Stromboli and Bainbridge avenues, have been planned to further mitigate any potential traffic impacts associated with the new $600 million terminal.
“The reality is, anytime you build a major project, there are issues you need to deal with and how you deal with them is the prime determinant of the ultimate success of your project,” said SPA spokesman Byron Miller. “We’ve worked, and continue to work, very hard to offset the possible impacts of port expansion and are striving to make those impacts as positive as they can possibly be.”
A significant example of that was unveiled when the SPA released details of its plan to offset the possible environmental consequences of the project.
The 70-page plan, costing $9.6 million, is one of the largest single mitigation efforts in the history of the state, Miller said.
The plan includes a $1 million contribution toward efforts to preserve Morris Island.
But the plan goes beyond that, including an additional $1 million to protect land through the Cooper River Initiative.
To deal with direct impacts to aquatic resources and wetlands, the SPA will re-create 22 acres of tidal marsh at a site in the lower harbor, restore more than five miles of oyster reefs in and around Charleston Harbor and purchase mitigation bank credits. These projects are expected to total another $2.5 million.
Implementation of the plan is set to begin as soon as construction begins on the new terminal.
Miller said the mitigation effort is nearly twice as large as that undertaken for the recently permitted APM terminal in Portsmouth, Va., which will impact about three times as much acreage as the North Charleston terminal.
Port expansion at the former Navy base will impact about 10 acres of tidal marsh, two acres of freshwater wetlands and 57 acres of sub-tidal bottom fill.
As a comparison, the Vought/Global Aeronautica assembly facility’s mitigation plan for 40 acres in North Charleston cost $4.75 million, Miller said.
The SPA’s push to get the new terminal permitted and built comes at a critical time for the Port of Charleston. Historically the fourth busiest port in the United States, it is expected to drop as low as seventh or eighth next year, Miller said.
“We exist in a very competitive environment, and the fact is, due to their ability to grow in recent years, other ports are seizing opportunities that should be ours,” Miller said.
In addition to the measures outlined above, the SPA and the city of North Charleston in May agreed on a $4 million package of funding for education and job training programs and the creation of an affordable housing trust.
The SPA is also making about three areas of its developable land available to the Clemson Restoration Institute, a project the state Budget and Control Board agreed to fund.
The corps’ final report on the new terminal can be downloaded at www.PortEIS.com.
Dan McCue is a staff writer for the Business Journal. E-mail him at
dmccue@charlestonbusiness.com.
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