Parkway Encounters 'Stalemate'

If improvements continue on Berlin G. Myers Parkways, 20 additional houses can become impacted by flooding in the area, according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

But for Dorchester County Penny Sales Tax Transportation Authority board members, the concerns are just one more way to delay the project, which is shovel ready pending permits. 

"This is nothing but a stalemate," board member J.D. Allston said Aug. 8 during the board's regular monthly meeting at Dorchester County Chambers in Summerville. He likened the delayed project to the issue of the .

The project would complete construction of the parkway from S.C. Route 165 to U.S. Route 17-A, past its current terminus at Trolley Road and intersecting with Orangeburg Road. The parkway completion would run along side the walking trail at Sawmill Branch, according to the authority website. 

FEMA has requested the authority explore alternate locations for the road and relief bridges, according to Donnie Dukes, project manager for the authority.

"I assure you: it will be a substantial cost," Dukes said when he addressed the board. 

The authority has begun working with S.C. Department of Transportation on viable options for the improvement project, he said. 

"There's nothing y'all can do; there's nothing DOT can do ... to satisfy these folks," board member Robby Robbins said. He added: "If you don't want something to happen, you either delay it or drive the cost up."

Board members scoffed at the idea of flooding, saying that area of Summerville has faired better than the rest of the tricounty during recent rains, and that the only reason the models show flooding is an updated hydrology from the Army Corps of Engineers — not from historical flooding. 

According to staff, this project has been waiting in the wings for six years.

"It's just one complication after another," Dukes said.

At the end of the discussion, Dukes said asking the Berkeley-Charleston-Dorchester Council of Governments for a letter of support may help the project along. However, no definitive action was taken.