I thank Charleston County Council members Henry Darby, Larry Kobrovsky and Robert Wehrman for voting against the plan to extend Interstate 526 from West Ashley and across James and Johns islands.

The county does not have the money for this boondoggle of an idea. If it did, it would have spent it on repairing I-526 from I-26 to where it dead-ends at Savannah Highway, a section badly in need of repair.

This current excessive $75 million expenditure has no guarantee of ever extending the highway. I believe the required studies and permits are a waste of money, and fiscal conservatives should have voted against this financially irresponsible plan.

If a bond referendum is held to fund the billions needed to complete the extension of I-526 and the voters reject it, much of the $75 million would have been wasted.

The other costs are also too steep: homes and neighborhoods destroyed, natural habitats ruined and marshlands damaged.

Extending I-526 would ruin the natural beauty and culture that has evolved around these lands and waterways.

The cost and damage inflicted to reduce traffic volume is a disingenuous argument for extending the highway.

Building roads would incentivize development, thus creating more traffic. Developers and residents chose to build and live on the Sea Islands, aware of the existing transportation routes. Now, it seems they want residents who don’t live there to pay for it.

Don’t kill the goose that lays the golden egg by building a highway through the nest.

PAIGE LEWIS
Charleston