A Troubled Bridge Over Calm Waters

The vision of 50 cyclists pedaling north across the Legare Bridge onto the peninsula from West Ashley Friday morning may become commonplace in a few short years — despite what drivers whizzing by have to say about it.
Organized by local bicycle and pedestrian advocacy group Charleston Moves, the riders were celebrating the final day of the national Bike to Work Week. There was even a skateboarder pushing his deck along the raised side path that few would dare riding a bike along.
City Councilman Mike Seekings and County Councilmember Colleen Condon were among the riders, with flashing police escorts keeping everyone safe.
And, no surprise to some, there was a traffic jam on the bridge. Not because of the cyclists, but because of an earlier auto accident that left a Mustang slammed into guardrail.
The far-left lane route to cyclists took over the Ashley River will be much the same route when the Legare is retrofitted sometime in the near future with a dedicated bike and pedestrian lane.
Intended to reduce traffic and help wean the Lowcountry off its dependence on motor vehicles, that same project has many locals worried that the bike lane will create utter havoc during peak traffic times over the bridge.
City Councilmen Aubry Alexander and Bill Moody are suspicious of the claims made in an eight-year-old traffic study that said the lane will be a boon to the part of town they represent.
Neither Alexander or Moody see how removing one lane of traffic in the face of burgeoning population increases projected for their side of the river makes any sense.
Both doubt that many people, projected to be as high as 750, would bike or walk to work and dining downtown, especially in summer and winter months.
While those living near the river could see increased convenience and property values, it’s not hard to see how anyone living above Wappoo Road could get worried about a growing commute time along heavily-trafficked highways 17 and 61.
County Council chairman Elliott Summey worries that “we are going to become a victim of our own success … The biggest problem I see is there are only so many ways for people to get on and off the peninsula.”
Without Interstate 26 widened all the way down to the peninsula, Summey worries about a looming gridlocked traffic nightmare.
“This whole concept of riding a bike everywhere is novel, my fat [self] is not going to do it. When I ride a bike, it’s with my 5-year-old,” he says. “I grew up in North Charleston, in a walkable area, a bikeable area; but I still get in my truck to go where I want to go. It’s novel; maybe when we get more millennials it will make sense, but I ain’t a millennial.”
When reminded that cities the world ‘round, like Amsterdam, have relied on bikes for a big chunk of their transportation load, Summey is sanguine. “They do a lot of other things in Amsterdam, too,” he said, making puff-puffing noises.
Summey said more will be revealed in a few weeks when the county holds a public meeting to show the design plan.
County spokesman Shawn Smetana said it would take between six months and one year to construct the new lane once work begins. Smetana added that the final timeline for construction will be revealed at that meeting.
Charles Fox, who lives behind Earth Fare and took part in Friday’s ride, doesn’t see what all the hubbub is about. The plan, paid for through the county’s half-cent sales tax, won’t erect permanent barriers along the bike and pedestrian path.
Both city and county councils have already voted to approve the project.
“Give it a year and if it doesn’t work out, take it out and put everything back like it was,” says Fox, a bicycle race official in his spare time. “It’s a win-win.”
Condon, long before she was pedaling her bike over the bridge, had been a big supporter of the project. She gets huffy with critics who don’t consider the full breadth of the plan, which includes doubling the Bee Street off ramp.
Charleston Moves board chair Tom Bradford said the current design, where only one lane of the off ramp dead ends into Lockwood across from the VA hospital, is the culprit when it comes to rush hour traffic “constipation.”
By expanding the intersection by one lane, Bradford says traffic will speed up as motorists can go straight at that light into the  hospital zone, or turn left to go toward The Joe.
“The study says adding the bike lane would only add 13 seconds to a car’s commute,” says Bradford.
City traffic czar Hernan Pena concurs, saying the added lane there would offset the loss of a lane over the Legare. Pena does allow that the reduction of lanes over the bridge may make it harder for drivers, especially ones coming from Hwy. 61 to merge.
Only time will tell if the bike lane, like the popular one on the Ravenel Bridge, will be a pathway to a golden future, or a road to ruin.