Mount Pleasant Magazine March/April 2018

north mount pleasant www.NorthMountPleasant.com | www.ParkWestNeighborhoods.com | www.BrickyardHomes.com NMP - 15 T here’s good news and there’s bad news for motorists who must make their way up and down the overcrowded stretch of Highway 41 that runs from Highway 17 to Clements Ferry Road in Berkeley County, crossing the new Wando River Bridge along the way. For those who choose to see the situation on the heavily-traveled two-lane road in a positive light, work is moving along on the study required under the National Environmental Policy Act. The study is about 40-percent finished, according to State Sen. Larry Grooms, chair of South Carolina’s Senate Transportation Committee. And the bulk of the roadwork will be paid for by the half-cent sales tax approved by Charleston County voters in the November 2016 referendum. The bad news is that work estimated in the spring of 2016 to be completed in 2021 now probably won’t be finished until sometime in 2025. Even worse, Mount Pleasant Waterworks customers who are already paying that half-cent sales tax will most likely see an increase in their monthly water bills to pay to move the water and sewer lines to accommodate the widening of the road to four lanes. As it now stands, the NEPA process, started in May 2017, should be completed in the spring of 2019, with approval expected from the federal Highway Department in 2020, Grooms said. He pointed out that work, which probably will take around three years, should begin in late 2021 or early 2022. “That’s if there aren’t any lawsuits and if everyone is holding hands on the loss of wetlands and environmental justice issues,” Grooms said. Mount Pleasant Mayor Will Haynie pointed out that By Brian Sherman Highway 41 Revisited Good News and Worse News 41 SC