Bridge-a-geddon

It’s been 10 days since the far-right, peninsular-bound lane of the Legare Bridge from West Ashley was closed as part of a 60-day test to see how a bike/pedestrian lane would affect morning commute times.
And so far, the results have been … anecdotal. And fire-y, if you read Facebook or listen to morning AM radio call-in shows.
Some decry the proposed lane as a needless obstacle for those trying to get to work at peak morning hours. Supporters hail the lane as a paradigm-shifter, taking the region one step closer to alternative modes of transportation.
Then again, the proposed lane may just be the tip of the iceberg, compared to the laundry list of traffic issues plaguing West Ashley, some have said.
West Of conservative columnist John Steinberger has railed against the lane, pointing to the traffic snarls along Folly Road leading up the bridge as proof the concept is bad.
“I’d like to see ultimately the bridge replaced with a permanent arched bridge, with a pedestrian and bike lane, to improve traffic flow,” said Steinberger, quoting a replacement cost estimate of $16 million, which some say is hysterically too low a number.
Local architect Whitney Powers, a boardmember with Charleston Moves, said delays are a “small price to pay” for ushering Charleston and West Ashley into the future.
“We have driven ourselves into a corner,” said Powers, whose husband was killed by a car several years ago while he was riding a bike on the peninsula. Charleston Moves hosted a rally on Monday in support of the lane, which isn’t supposed to actually be open to walkers and bikers for safety reasons.
According to a recent study, there are close to 4,000 vehicles crossing the bridge every hour during peak morning commute times. Traffic over the bridge seems to be moving at its usual clip and or crawl.
But what about traffic along the roads feeding into the Legare?
Richard Turner, a West Ashley resident, is the county’s lead project manager for the proposed lane. He took multiple timed commuting runs from spots along Folly Road, St. Andrews Boulevard, and Savannah Highway onto the peninsula several times a morning last week at set times since the project kicked off last Monday.
Using a stopwatch, Turner has taken those daily times and compared them to “before” commute times he recorded a few weeks ago.
His anecdotal results so far? Last Monday was the worst, Turner reported, as he expected, with times improving “incrementally” every day.
Coming down Savannah Highway and St. Andrews Boulvard, Turner said commute times started out one-and-a-half times slower on Monday, but dropped to about 10 percent slower by last Friday.
But Folly Road remains a tough haul. Leaving from Maybank Highway and winding his way onto the peninsula started out taking two-and-a-half times more time, said Turner.
By the end of the first week, though, it had dropped to “only” 50 percent slower.
Turner said soon a consulting firm will do a more expansive, and video recorded, timing. He said those results will be available online in the coming weeks.
Turner said the city, county, and state departments of transportation have joined together and have been doing traffic counts in several parts of West Ashley to test if there has been a ripple-out effect of the lane closure.
Traffic counting machines have been set up as far away as Glenn McConnell Parkway to help gauge the overall effect.
Morning traffic has long been a nightmare in West Ashley past Interstate 526. Commute times from up Highway 61 have varied as much as 30 minutes; depending on the time of morning a driver leaves home.
City of Charleston spokesman Jack O’Toole said last week that Mayor John Tecklenburg is actively seeking a $300,000 grant to conduct a comprehensive traffic study for West Ashley alone.
“Who cares about the bike lane? Glenn McConnell was a parking lot this morning,” clamored one poster on a West Ashley social website page.
Some of that traffic may be eased soon, as the new West Ashley Traffic Circle opened last week. There are lights on the circle, as well as turnaround roundabouts tucked into the segment abutting the Grand Oaks development.
And there may be worse traffic in the future for West Ashley. The city approved a 10,000-unit housing development past Bees Ferry Road on Savannah Highway.
Contrast the five lanes Savannah Highway has as it cuts through West Ashley to the 10 lanes in Mt. Pleasant, including the two frontage roads, and its easy to see all the furor over the bike/pedestrian lane may just be a down-payment on future fights and problems on this side of the Ashley River.