Mount Pleasant Magazine 6.3

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project on its own, it will spend more than $10 million to
four-lane the highway from 17 to Joe Rouse Road.
“That won’t fix the entire problem, but only states can
take on this kind of project,” DeMoura said. “Cities and
towns don’t have that kind of money.”
“It’s not our road, but it’s our citizens,” he added. “But
whether the state will participate is the million-dollar
question.”
It appears unlikely that the town of Mount Pleasant will
have to fly solo. Elliott Summey, chair of the Charleston
County Council, would like to put a referendum on the
ballot in November that would establish a half-cent sales
tax to raise money for Highway 41 and other projects.
Meanwhile, State Sen. Larry Grooms, chair of the Senate
Transportation Committee since 2007, is confident
that money eventually will flow from Columbia to the
Lowcountry to help with traffic issues in North Mount
Pleasant.
“The state will participate. We just don’t know at what
level,” said Grooms, whose district includes parts of Mount
Pleasant, Daniel Island, Goose Creek and Moncks Corner, as
well as rural areas.
“The project is moving as quickly as it can right now,” he
continued. “The environmental process will determine if the
project is a five-lane divided highway or a three-lane divided
highway or something else and if there will be a flyover at
17 and 41. These are questions that have to be asked and
answered. We must determine the alternatives to get the
maximum amount of traffic relief.”
“We’ll use as much state money as we can,” he added.
Grooms pointed out another issue that will be considered:
How widening the road, which runs through the African-
American Phillips Community, will affect people who have
lived along Highway 41 for generations. The area near
Horlbeck Creek was founded by freed slaves in the 1870s.
Grooms said financial compensation, relocation and building
parks and playgrounds all are possibilities.
“If we damage the community, we need to see what we
can do to make it whole again,” he commented.
Grooms, a member of the Senate Transportation
Committee since 1997, said the best option for Highway 41
includes participation by all four government entities.
“The quickest route to bring the project to completion
would need to include federal, state, county and town
dollars,” he said. “That would ensure that the job would be
done in the quickest amount of time.”
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