Mount Pleasant Magazine Nov/Dec 2017

53 www.MountPleasantMagazine.com | www.ILoveMountPleasant.com | www.BestofMP.com feature project, which was supposed to launch on Sept. 11, was delayed six days by the rain that accompanied Hurricane Irma. Improvements from Mill Street to Pherigo Street will be completed, in four phases, by August 2019, according to Mount Pleasant Director of Transportation Brad Morrison. The cost of the roadway portion is $14.738 million, while $3.464 is to be spent to relocate and upgrade utilities, for a total price tag of $18.202 million. When the work is done, the amount of storm water directed into nearby neighborhoods will be greatly reduced and the quality of the water that drains into Shem Creek will be enhanced as well. In addition, curbs, gutters and sidewalks are to be replaced, bike lanes and on-street parking will be added, a traffic signal will be installed at Pherigo Street and another one is to be replaced at Fairmont Street. “The whole idea is to make Coleman Boulevard more bike-able and walkable,” said Morrison. The contractor for the project is Blythe Development Co. of Charlotte, North Carolina, which was established in 1989 and now does almost $110 million in business annually. The Coleman Boulevard project is the first job the company has done for the town of Mount Pleasant. Blythe is currently working on improvements at the intersection of Highway 61 and Highway 7 in West Ashley; water, sewer, storm drainage and paving work and installing curbs and sidewalks in Coosaw Preserve; and similar work in Brighton Park in the Nexton development in Berkeley County. Morrison pointed out that the Coleman Boulevard project will make Shem Creek a better place to live and play for local residents and for the fish and fowl that inhabit the town’s iconic waterway. A water quality device designed to remove sediment, trash and other undesirable items from the runoff into the creek is to be buried beneath the ground on Simmons Street, adjacent to the Moultrie Plaza parking lot. Morrison, who has served in his current position since 2009, said Simmons Street will be completely closed at times but that Coleman will most likely remain open to traffic. When the median is installed, the work will be completed at night, and one lane each way will probably be closed. “There probably won’t be a point where Coleman will be closed to all traffic,” he commented. “We might come across something unexpected where there will be full closure, but I don’t anticipate that happening. But with construction, you never know.” The project will be completed in four stages. First, a Right: Mount Pleasant Director of Transportation Brad Morrison checks out the progress on the work being completed on Coleman Boulevard.