Phase 2 of Clements Ferry Road Widening Project to begin in late 2019

In order to receive feedback from area residents about phase two of the Clements Ferry Road Widening Project, the South Carolina Department of Transportation (SCDOT), Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and Berkeley County hosted a public hearing on Thursday, April 26 at Philip Simmons High School.

The Clements Ferry Road Widening Project is a “tale of two phases,” explained elected County Supervisor Bill Peagler. Construction for phase one, which extends from I-26 to Jack Primus Road, is finally coming to an end after taking eight years to begin. Phase 2, which extends from Jack Primus Road to SC-41, is expected to break ground in late 2019 and be completed by late 2022.

“[Phase 2] is going to be managed by Berkeley County and funded by the most recent one cent sales tax,” said Peagler. “We started collecting money for this project in 2016 and construction will begin in 2019. That’s only three years. There’s more wetlands involved in this section and also includes a bridge replacement. We are trying to do everything that we possibly can to expedite this process.”

After receiving additional federal funding for the project in 2017, the SCDOT was required by the Natural Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) to prepare an Environmental Assessment (EA) of the corridor, explained Peter Valiquette, SCDOT project manager for the Clements Ferry Road Widening Project.

“[An EA] is a Federal Highway Administration document that evaluates the project, purpose and need against a number of alternatives and looks at the impacts of those alternatives to the human and natural environment, with tips to identify a recommended preferred alternative,” said Valiquette.

The proposed EA was approved by the FHA on April 5, added Valiquette, allowing the SCDOT to move forward with the required public hearing process.

“A brief description of our preferred alternative is to widen Clements Ferry Road asymmetrically,” said Valiquette. “In some cases we’re widening towards the north and in some, we’re widening to the south. Those are in effort to minimize the impacts of the project as we go along the corridor. The resulting condition will be a four-lane, curving gutter roadway with a center two-way, left turn lane or a raised planted median, depending on where you are on the corridor, as well as a 10-foot long shared-use path for bicycles and pedestrians.”

According to the data collected for the EA, there will be one residential relocation; zero commercial relocations; no impact to farmland; an impact to two acres of floodplains; an impact to 2.7 acres of wetlands; an impact to 160 linear feet of streams; no impact to threatened or endangered species; no impact to state-listed species; no impact to architectural or archaeological cultural resources; an impact on two hazardous material sites; and a total of 42.2 acres of right-of-way-acquisition.

Although the EA shows that there is no impact to cultural resources, 57 year Cainhoy Village resident John (Sammy) Sanders, III, explained that that is not the case. According to Sanders, plans for the project propose the cutting down of a historic tree in downtown Cainhoy.

“There’s one large tree on Clements Ferry Road called Meeting Tree,” said Sanders. “They said there were zero cultural things being impacted and I want to disagree with that…. The tree is a historic landmark. People used to meet at the tree for work and everything else…They are going to be tearing tens of thousands of dollars’ worth of storm drain and moving it over to take this tree out. I think more effort should be done to help preserve this tree. Once it’s gone it’s gone. It’s a very old tree.”

Sanders is not the only resident concerned with the impact that the project could have on cultural and historical landmarks along the corridor. Designated historian for Historic Downtown Cainhoy Mae Re Skinner also voiced concern about the Meeting Tree, as well as other landmarks that are being encroached upon.

“There are some historic resources…one of which is the ancient Cainhoy Methodist Church and cemetery that is now being encroached upon by Hope Life Development,” said Skinner. “The [unfenced portion] is where my concern is because it is closer to the road and closer to Meeting Bridge. That is where I have documented notarized sworn statements from a lot of the old black community in 2000 that their ancestors are buried there and who they are. Before you widen and before you enlarge the bridge, you have to do the ground seeking radar for that piece to make sure that you are not encroaching on those graves.”

Cainhoy Landing resident Michelle Boykin voiced a different concern towards phase two of the project. According to Boykin, once the road is widened, her home will be sitting directly beside the four-lane highway, which already causes noise problems for Cainhoy Landing residents and surrounding neighborhoods.

“It’s going to take out a tree line and we’re going to be sitting on the road,” said Boykin. “We came last year to the meeting and were told that there was a sound study done and there was no significant change in the sound behind our houses, which is ridiculous…Since they put the new bridge in and everything, the sound is incredible. We hear traffic day and night. My request and comment is please do a sound study sooner than later so when you come and take the property, we can determine what kind of fence or what kind of buffer we need so that we can live without sound like we live on, unfortunately, a four-lane highway.”

The SCDOT and county will be taking public comments through May 11. Once they receive all comments, the next step is to solicit a Public Hearing Certification from the Federal Highway Administration, explained Valiquette.

“Once we hear all of those comments…we’re going to request a finding of no significant impact,” said Valiquette. “Once that is approved, that will allow us to commence the right-of-way acquisition, which we expect to start this summer.”

Construction for phase two is expected to begin in late 2019 and take until 2022 to be completed, added Valiquette.

“At this point, we’re expecting a three year construction duration,” he said. “Of course, we’re going to continue to look for ways to accelerate that. A lot of that is going to be driven by the necessary relocation of a significant number of utilities that are along the project corridor and also construction of the two bridge sites. There is quite a lot of work to be done in a three year period.”

Any resident who is interested in submitting a comment can do so by emailing Berkeley County Public Information Officer Hannah Moldenhauer at hannah.moldenhauer@berkeleycountysc.gov or submitting it online at https://www.berkeleycountysc.gov/drupal/engineering/onecent/clemferry2.

There is also an option to mail in comments to: Hannah Moldenhauer, Public Information Officer, Berkeley County Government, P.O. Box 6122, Moncks Corner, SC 29461.