Charleston County's Nov. 3 transportation tax lists nine North Charleston projects worth $431.4 million, led by a $175.9 million Rivers Avenue rail overpass.
Charleston County voters decide Nov. 3 whether to keep a half-cent sales tax for roads, buses and green space for up to 25 more years. Nine of the road projects named in the plan are in North Charleston, and together they would get $431.4 million.
The biggest is a $175.9 million railroad overpass on Rivers Avenue at Durant Avenue. That crossing is already the subject of a city study taking public comment.
Early voting opens Monday.
What is on the ballot
Two questions about the tax will be on every Charleston County ballot. The wording is in the county’s sample of the ballot questions.
Question 1 asks voters to approve a half-cent sales tax in Charleston County. It would run for no more than 25 years, or until it has raised $4.25 billion, whichever comes first. The money is split three ways:
| Category | Amount |
|---|---|
| Roads, bridges, intersections, paving, sidewalks and bike lanes | $2.702 billion |
| Public transit run by CARTA, plus a downtown route study | $858 million |
| Greenbelts: land conservation and parks, split 50% urban and 50% rural | $690 million |
Question 2 asks voters to let the county issue up to $300 million in general obligation bonds. The sales tax would repay them, and the money would pay to finish projects from Question 1 sooner.
The tax would not be added on top of what shoppers pay now. It would continue the county’s existing 2004 half-cent transportation tax once that program finishes collecting, which the county projects will happen in 2027.
The North Charleston projects
Charleston County publishes a map of every proposed project with the amount set aside for each. We checked each location against the U.S. Census Bureau’s city limits for North Charleston. These nine fall inside them:
| Project | What the county says it would do | Proposed funding |
|---|---|---|
| Rivers Avenue railroad overpass at Durant Avenue | A flyover at the railroad tracks near Durant Avenue, so trains stop holding up traffic | $175.9 million |
| Mall Drive improvements | From Montague Avenue to Rivers Avenue: replace the railroad bridge, add capacity, and add a bike and walking link from a future rapid transit stop to the future Roper Hospital | $100 million |
| Better North Bridge | Bike and pedestrian access on the North Bridge over the Ashley River, with the South Carolina Department of Transportation | $90 million |
| Palmetto Commerce interchange noise wall | A noise wall at the interchange project | $17 million |
| Stall Road | A roundabout at Midland Park Road, and two left-turn lanes from Stall Road onto Ashley Phosphate Road | $15 million |
| Patriot Boulevard widening | From Palmetto Commerce Parkway to the county line, with Dorchester County | $12 million |
| Reynolds Avenue | Improvements from Meeting Street to North Carolina Avenue | $10 million |
| Ladson Road at Palmetto Commerce Parkway | Two westbound left-turn lanes | $8 million |
| Ashley Phosphate Road at Cross County Road | Realign lanes on Cross County Road and Brandywine Road so the signal no longer runs each side separately | $3.5 million |
The ballot also names other work that would touch the city without a separate price on the map:
- the Dorchester Road widening and Palmetto Commerce Parkway Phase 3, both carried over from the 2016 sales tax
- bike and pedestrian links to the planned Lowcountry Rapid Transit line on Rivers Avenue
- countywide repaving, traffic signal timing and intersection safety work
What changed in July
Charleston County Council gave the plan its final vote in July. Its release on the vote lists the last changes. Several were in or near North Charleston:
- added $17 million for the Palmetto Commerce interchange noise wall
- removed $12 million for Ladson Road at Miles Jamison Road
- removed $5 million for early engineering on railroad overpasses at Azalea Drive and Stromboli Avenue, and at Noisette Boulevard and Virginia Avenue
- added $2 million for bike and pedestrian work on Huger Street
How the projects were chosen
The county said it scored proposed projects out of 100 points. Up to 50 points came from public and city support, up to 30 from congestion and up to 20 from the rate of fatal and serious-injury crashes.
The county’s referendum website says the outreach drew about 29,000 public comments and more than 600 project requests. It identified about $68 billion in transportation needs, far more than the tax would raise.
The county also runs a dashboard of projects paid for by the current tax. It lists 490 road projects, 400 finished and 90 active, worth nearly $1 billion from the first and second transportation sales taxes.
What it means for you
- Who votes on it: only voters registered in Charleston County. North Charleston stretches into Dorchester and Berkeley counties, and voters there will not see these questions.
- Early voting: Monday, Oct. 19, through Saturday, Oct. 31, 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m., closed Sunday, Oct. 25. North Charleston’s early voting center is the county elections office at 4340 Corporate Road. Our voting guide lists every center, the ID rules and the absentee deadline.
- Election Day: Tuesday, Nov. 3. Polls are open 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., and you vote at your assigned polling place.
- If it passes: the half-cent rate stays where it is now, and the new program takes over when the 2004 tax finishes collecting.
- If it fails: the 2004 tax ends when its collections are complete, which the county projects for 2027.
- Read it yourself: the ballot questions and the project map are both online. For work already under way, see our road construction and closures page.
The figures here are the county’s own. This article makes no recommendation on how to vote.
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