The Big Picture
NEPA Process
Charleston County has followed the federal National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) to examine the potential environmental, social, cultural and economic impacts of improvements to the Highway 41 corridor and nearby intersections. The NEPA process is an information-gathering and planning tool that is used by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in their federal permit process to better understand the potential impacts of a proposed project.
Watch our Navigating the NEPA Process video to learn about the decision-making process and how projects are taken through permitting, design and construction.
Project Purpose
To identify the proposed alternative for a given project, a Purpose and Need must be determined. The Purpose & Need explains why a project is necessary and what it should achieve. Most importantly, it serves as the criteria for determining and evaluating the range of project alternatives, and ultimately helping the project team identify the proposed alternative for the project.
Primary Purpose
Secondary Purpose
Findings from our Studies
Growth
The Mt. Pleasant area will continue to experience exponential growth.
2015-2040
Anticipated population growth ranges from 24.7 - 31.4% in Charleston County.
12,321 additional homes built in the project area (Berkeley and Charleston Counties)
9,046 additional jobs in the project area (Berkeley and Charleston Counties)
Because of this exponential growth, traffic is also projected to increase significantly.
Traffic
Highway 41 is operating at or near capacity.
Level of Service
Without improvements to the Highway 41 travel corridor and surrounding intersections, the majority of roadway segments in the project study area would operate at a level of service of E or F by the year 2045. With the proposed alternative design, level of service in this corridor will be better in 2045 than it is today. Traffic today is a level F.
With the proposed alternative, traffic in 2045 would be a C or better.
Community
Several of our studies, including the Community Characterization Report, sought to collect and analyze the local communities in the study area, including population statistics, demographics, socioeconomics factors, households, employment numbers, area history, and area resources, to help better understand the makeup of these communities, the people who live here, and cultural resources of this area.
Environmental justice populations, which are defined as minority or low-income, are present throughout this area and are primarily comprised of Gullah communities settled by freed African Americans following the Civil War.
The Phillips Community and Seven Mile Community are recognized as historic and/or environmental justice communities within the project corridor. Learn more about the significance of these African American communities in this corridor.
Phillips Community
The Phillips Community was settled by emancipated African Americans and their descendants over a period of several decades between the 1870s and 1930s. Portions of the Laurel Hill Plantation were subdivided by the Horlbeck brothers, who also owned Boone Hall Plantation and Parker’s Island, and purchased by African Americans formerly enslaved at Laurel Hill and other nearby plantations. Over the years, wage labor, small-scale farming and timbering operations, subsistence activities, sweetgrass basketmaking, other entrepreneurial pursuits, and land ownership, helped Phillips community members achieve relative self-sufficiency.
The Phillips Community is considered a cultural landscape that is eligible for the National Register of Historic Places for its association with traditional Gullah culture, federal Reconstruction initiatives, and its potential to yield information important to understanding local Gullah history. Many of the impacted properties in the Phillips Community are heirs’ properties, meaning property owned in common among the heirs of earlier-named owners of the properties. Click here to review the Phillips Community Cultural Landscape Technical Report.
Seven Mile Community
Located along the Highway 17 corridor, Seven Mile was originally founded by emancipated African Americans and their descendants and has long been associated with Greater Goodwill African Methodist Episcopal Church, located at the intersection of Highway 17 and Highway 41. Like the other “mile-marker” communities in the area, Seven Mile was named for its distance from the center of Mount Pleasant, which may have emphasized its remoteness and lack of access to Charleston and Laing High School, the only available secondary school for African Americans.
The Gullah artform of sweetgrass basketmaking continues to be practiced by residents of Seven Mile. Based on the cultural resources survey for the project, there are approximately 27 sweetgrass basket stands located in Seven Mile, and the National Register of Historic Place-eligible Sweetgrass Basket Corridor traditional cultural property extends through Seven Mile.
Environmental Justice Impacts
Because they are Gullah African-American communities and because the impacts to these communities associated with the project are estimated to be more severe than in non-environmental justice communities in the study area, the Phillips Community and Seven Mile are expected to experience disproportionately high and adverse effects from the project. The project could also contribute to cumulative impacts to the traditional culture of these communities resulting from nearby federal and nonfederal projects. Over time, compounding changes in the study area, including population growth, changing lifestyles, and a subsequent increase in new residential and commercial developments have affected the traditional cultures of these Gullah communities and also led to the need for the project.
Community Map
We know that there has been explosive growth in recent years, primarily outwards of Highway 41 or northwards along Highway 17. The Town of Mt. Pleasant’s comprehensive plan recommends that infill and redevelopment should occur in such a way as to preserve the character of nearby residential areas.
Laurel Hill County Park contains historical and cultural resources and is the only concentration of recreational trails within the study area. The 745-acre park features several miles of trails, and bicycle and pedestrian connections between various neighborhoods.
Other key findings from our community studies:
- The majority of this area is residential, with businesses concentrated on Highway 17.
- The minority population is 7.8% in the study area.
- Nine percent of residents are considered low-income, which is a lower percentage than the rest of Charleston County.
- The median household income and median home values in the study area are higher when compared to the rest of Charleston County.
Safety
Crash statistics raise concerns about roadway safety and the type of crashes that are occurring along the Highway 41 corridor are indicative of a congested roadway corridor.
Total Crashes in the Corridor (2011-2017)
575 total crashes
During that time period, the number of collisions annually along the corridor increased by 172%
33% of these crashes resulted in injury or fatalities
Emergency Response Readiness
Emergency responders have expressed concerns about responsiveness to incidents and it is critical that congestion is reduced to provide improved access for emergency responders.* In addition, South Carolina’s coastline is vulnerable to hurricanes and Highway 41 is a designated hurricane evacuation route; preventing gridlock in the case of a hurricane evacuation is an additional concern for emergency managers.
* Comments acquired from stakeholders during the project development processTechnical Studies
Are you interested in doing a deeper dive into our technical studies?
They are all available for reading on the Resources Page of the project website.
