It was the highway that was, then wasn't, and now is again. The big story in Carolinas transportation planning in April was the Charleston (S.C.) County Council's rejection of a planned extension to Interstate 526. It's notable whenever any elected officials – and especially those in reliably conservative South Carolina – say no to any highway.
But never count a highway out. I-526 was revived with a new council vote last month that rescinded the vote to scrap it. Its future remains unclear. (Here's Post and Courier columnist Brian Hicks on a mysterious pro-highway campaign.) Monday night, Charleston Mayor Joe Riley Jr. spoke to Charlotte City Council about historic preservation (talk about a day late and a dollar short, or maybe three decades late ...) at the invitation of Mayor Anthony Foxx. Riley was gracious enough to let me buttonhole him about 526. He has been a 526 supporter, and I wanted to hear why a guy who seems to understand good urbanism would want another big ole ugly interstate boring through his city. How, I asked him, could the city prevent the typical highway sprawl if this road gets built?
Riley contends the highway is needed because of the growth in motorists trying to get to and from Folly Beach and Seabrook and Kiawah islands at the far end of Johns Island. That sends too much traffic into the neighborhoods west of the Ashley River, he said. The highway will divert that beachbound traffic.
And to control the sprawl? Riley said the city and county had adopted a plan about 10 years ago to create an urban growth boundary. They downzoned a lot of land on Johns Island – even winning a landowner's federal lawsuit over the downzoning – and, at least inside the city limits, there aren't any more large commercially zoned tracts available. But, I persisted, land can be rezoned. It's not that hard. "A lot of blood was spilled," he said, over those downzonings. "The community's invested in this."
Additionally, plans are that the 526 extension won't be a typical interstate, but an at-grade, four-lane road with a tree-lined median and bike paths. It will have only two intersections, no cloverleafs, and, he said, "zero" development.
Although I'm of the belief that keeping sprawl development off a new highway is about as easy as turning lead into gold, I admit part of me thinks it would be interesting to see if this road can offer a model for a tamer way to build urban highways. It's what I (and many others) have said for years: Don't build highways inside cities. Build boulevards designed to move a lot of traffic but that add beauty, not ugliness. Cities need transportation connections, and that includes street networks. They don't need interstate highways gutting them.
But never count a highway out. I-526 was revived with a new council vote last month that rescinded the vote to scrap it. Its future remains unclear. (Here's Post and Courier columnist Brian Hicks on a mysterious pro-highway campaign.) Monday night, Charleston Mayor Joe Riley Jr. spoke to Charlotte City Council about historic preservation (talk about a day late and a dollar short, or maybe three decades late ...) at the invitation of Mayor Anthony Foxx. Riley was gracious enough to let me buttonhole him about 526. He has been a 526 supporter, and I wanted to hear why a guy who seems to understand good urbanism would want another big ole ugly interstate boring through his city. How, I asked him, could the city prevent the typical highway sprawl if this road gets built?
Riley contends the highway is needed because of the growth in motorists trying to get to and from Folly Beach and Seabrook and Kiawah islands at the far end of Johns Island. That sends too much traffic into the neighborhoods west of the Ashley River, he said. The highway will divert that beachbound traffic.
And to control the sprawl? Riley said the city and county had adopted a plan about 10 years ago to create an urban growth boundary. They downzoned a lot of land on Johns Island – even winning a landowner's federal lawsuit over the downzoning – and, at least inside the city limits, there aren't any more large commercially zoned tracts available. But, I persisted, land can be rezoned. It's not that hard. "A lot of blood was spilled," he said, over those downzonings. "The community's invested in this."
Additionally, plans are that the 526 extension won't be a typical interstate, but an at-grade, four-lane road with a tree-lined median and bike paths. It will have only two intersections, no cloverleafs, and, he said, "zero" development.
Although I'm of the belief that keeping sprawl development off a new highway is about as easy as turning lead into gold, I admit part of me thinks it would be interesting to see if this road can offer a model for a tamer way to build urban highways. It's what I (and many others) have said for years: Don't build highways inside cities. Build boulevards designed to move a lot of traffic but that add beauty, not ugliness. Cities need transportation connections, and that includes street networks. They don't need interstate highways gutting them.
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8 comments:
Why would you talk of conservative South Carolina, a slur in your world, and complain about a new highway and the sprawl it might bring, and then not mention the Mayor who supports the road is a Democrat?
Not much time left Mary, got to get those last few digs in, right?
Unless the I-526 extension can be built closer to Folly Beach than the current James Island Expressway, I will continue to cut through Charleston, where I-26 ends.
"..Carolinas transportation planning.."
They plan in South Carolina?
True.
The original interstate highways were suppose to stop at the edge of cities and transition to the street grid. They weren't suppose to actually go through our cities.
Fast forward more than 50 years. Mary, I don't think you have to worry about too much more sprawl being built. We're broke. We're broke at such an epic level that, mark my words, by 2020 people will think they were crazy for even considering building something called a highway.
The big story today is OPEC. Not what was said but what they didn't say. They CAN'T increase production. They're in decline and they know it. Some of them are even trying to reserve some oil for their own future use.
Given the parameters of Peak Oil, it's too late for us to turn this mothership of a country around. We waited too late in the game to make a difference in how we could transition from cheap, plentiful oil to expensive, scarce oil.
Between now and 2015, get to where you want to be and be happy with it, because that's pretty much where you'll be.
True.
The original interstate highways were suppose to stop at the outer edge of cities and transition to the street grid. They weren't suppose to actually go through our cities.
Fast forward more than 50 years. Mary, I don't think you have to worry about too much more sprawl being built. We're broke. We're broke at such an epic level that, mark my words, by 2020 people will think they were crazy for even considering building something called a highway.
The big story today is OPEC. Not what was said but what they didn't say. They CAN'T increase production. They're in decline and they know it. Some of them are even trying to reserve some oil for their own future use.
Given the parameters of Peak Oil, it's too late for us to turn this mothership of a country around. We waited too late in the game to make a difference in how we could transition from cheap, plentiful oil to expensive, scarce oil.
Between now and 2015, get to where you want to be and be happy with it, because that's pretty much where you'll be for a good while. Movement after 2015 will be because you "have to" and not because you "want to".
"Build boulevards designed to move a lot of traffic but that add beauty, not ugliness."
Like Independence and South....or Brookshire.... gorgeous "Boulevards" that add to the charm of the city.
^Independence is a "boulevard" in name only, as it's truly now an expressway.
Queens Road West is likely Charlotte's best example of a street that is both beautiful and multi-lane.
This is great news for those of us who vacation at Kiawah or Seabrook. Currently it’s a snap traveling I-77, I-26 and I-526 as far as the latter’s terminus at Rt. 17. From there it can take an aggravating 30-40 minutes to go the relatively short distance to the islands. The traffic on Rt. 17 is usually heavy. And then you can count on getting behind the 40-45 mph driver on two-lane, winding Main and Bohicket roads.
Try leaving the islands during a mandatory hurricane evacuation. My wife and I did so several years ago. It took two hours just to get to Rt. 17.
Extending I-526 into that area as a parkway with few interchanges seems like a win-win situation. The Betsy Kerrison Parkway that runs from the Kiawah-Seabrook entrances to where River Road meets Bohicket is four lanes, “at-grade” with a wide median. I think there may already be paved bike trails along some of it. In effect they’d just be extending it. It has some cut-throughs or turn-arounds across that median. But that hasn’t caused sprawl in that area.
It appears Riley knows what he’s talking about. I’d be curious, though, whether he has an ulterior motive. Tourists who love those islands will go there regardless of the traffic situation during that last stretch. Maybe he and his buddies live out there or frequent those great golf links?
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