DHEC approves project permit

Work on road could begin next spring

SUMMERVILLE — The long-awaited and controversial extension of the Berlin Myers Parkway has passed another key checkpoint. The state Department of Health and Environmental Control signed off on the water-quality permit last week, four years after Dorchester County voters approved the project in a sales-tax referendum.

The Nov. 21 action clears the way for the S.C. Department of Transportation to finalize the design, according to Donnie Dukes, an engineer with Davis & Floyd who has been working with DOT on the project. Construction should start next spring unless some unforeseen regulatory roadblocks pop up, he said.

For instance, critics have until Dec. 8 to appeal DHEC’s decision. Also, once the DHEC permit becomes official, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has to approve the final design.

Those who opposed the permit included the Southern Environmental Law Center, the S.C. Department of Natural Resources and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. They were concerned that the 3-mile parkway extension will displace about 15 acres of wetlands and cause the loss of trees and green space along a walking trail near the Sawmill Branch Canal, and they said runoff from road could end up in the canal, which feeds into the Ashley River.

DHEC has “reasonable assurance” the project will not lower water quality, since it includes several ponds and filters, the agency noted in its staff assessment to the permit request.

DOT will put 30 feet of trees and bushes between the parkway and the walking trail and will give the Pigeon Bond Mitigation Bank money to buy other wetlands that lead into the Ashley River, DHEC noted.

Opponents also questioned whether the project would relieve traffic enough to be worth the money. DOT acknowledges many roads around Summerville that are overcrowded will remain so after the parkway is finished but said overcrowding would be worse without the parkway, DHEC noted.

The parkway will go from where it ends now at East Carolina Avenue (S.C. Highway 165) west of Old Orangeburg Road to U.S. Highway 17A at Fisher Drive. State and regional planners call it a key component in relieving traffic congestion around Summerville.

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