The Town applied for $1.2 million of Federal complete streets funding through the Berkeley-Charleston-Dorchester Council of Governments (BCD COG) to complete sidewalks on the west side of Folly from the Ellis Creek bridge to Eugene Gibbs (near Chik-fil-e). This would connect up to the sidewalks included in the County's Camp-Folly improvement project and so complete sidewalks along the west side of Folly to near the old Burger King.
At its November meeting, in response to the Town's application, the BCD COG awarded $1.5 million for bike-pedestrian improvements on Folly Road.
The Town has pledged $400,000 (from our hospitality tax revenue.) Sidewalk infill on Folly Road was a listed project on last year's 1/2 sales tax referendum and the County anticipates that $2 million will be available. The City of Charleston has matched the Town's $400,000, though it will probably only be available in the City's 2019 budget. This adds up to $4.3 million.
While this is plenty of money to complete a sidewalk between the Ellis Creek Bridge and Eugene Gibbs, the project has expanded to become a proposed multi-use path along the west side of Folly from the Ellis Creek Bridge to Sol Legare Road. The cost of the expanded project is $15.9 million.
At the request of the Rethink Folly Road Steering Committee, the County prepared an application for Federal complete street funding through the BCD COG for this entire project. The County asked for $6.9 million, which was all of the complete street funding available. The County application arrived too late to be considered at the November meeting, and since the Town's application was funded for $1.5 million, that leaves $5.4 million. We cannot count on the County getting all of the remaining money and it might not get any. However, if it did get all of it, combined with the $4.3 million that would add up to $9.7 million, well short of $15.9 million.
The application for funding the larger project should come before the BCD COG early in the new year. However, the Rethink Folly Road Steering Committee is anxious to make recommendations for spending the $4.3 million on hand. Charleston County Transportation Department is preparing options for consideration at the January 17 meeting.
The County application included various options including a sidewalk everywhere there is an existing bike lane on the west side of Folly Road and a mulit-use path elsewhere. The estimate for that was $10.3 million, but I found an inconsistency in the estimates for right-of-way and asked if there was an error. When the error was corrected, the cost of the sidewalk/bike-lane/multi-use path option fell to approximately $9.7 million. While that option could be funded if all of the additional $5.4 million was obtained, as I explained above, receiving any, much less all, of that funding is hardly certain.
The multi-use path option between the Ellis Creek Bridge and George Griffith (Walmart) includes shifting the existing curb on Folly Road into the current roadway taking away the existing bike lane. This would require reconstructing the drainage system. The total cost of the multi-use path along this segment is $7.5 million. The reason for moving the curb is that federal regulations require 12 feet for a multi-use path and it must be 3 feet from the curb. There is not enough room between the existing curb and the Sunoco Station and Doctors Care near the Ellis Creek Bridge and the power substation near Walmart. There is more than enough room for a five foot sidewalk and that would cost less than half--$3.3 million.
In my opinion, moving the curb, reconstructing the drainage, moving all of the underground utilities, and spending $7.5 million is not reasonable. I also think doing nothing in James Island's commercial core is unacceptable.
There are no similar barriers and so no need to move the curb onto the roadway south of George Griffith. (There is no curb south of Grimball/Fort Johnson.) In those segments, the federally-required 12 foot muli-use path 3 feet from the roadway is more practical. There is no bike lane on the west side of Folly between George Griffith and Rafael, so a multi-use path will take care of bikers as well as pedestrians.
We will see what the County transportation engineers say and what the Rethink Folly Road Steering Committee recommends.
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