Building a tunnel under the four-lane Maybank Highway on James Island to protect golfers at Charleston Municipal from traffic could cost $1.7 million, the city has learned -- about $300,000 more than the highest official estimate.
The lowest of four bids the city received on the long-anticipated, controversial project was $1,729,035, from The Industrial Company of Savannah. City officials hope to get the price down, closer to the latest estimate of $1.4 million.
"We're negotiating with the low bidder to see if we can get it closer to our budget," said Charleston Public Service Director Laura Cabiness.
Mayor Joe Riley said the city hopes to identify less expensive ways of engineering the project.
"It's very important to the safety of the golfers but also to the motoring public," he said.
The project would be funded with $720,000 in state transportation money, which was approved in 2002, and a loan for the rest from the city, golf course Manager Herb Whetsell said after a meeting of the city's golf course committee earlier this month.
As of Sept. 1, the golf course showed a net profit of $1,304 for the year. Whetsell said the financial picture should improve by year's end.
Charleston has been pursuing the idea of a Maybank Highway crossing for 30 years. The highway divides the city's golf course, requiring golfers to cross the road twice to play a full 18 holes.
The golf course opened in 1929 when crossing the road was no big deal. But growth has transformed the sleepy country road into a busy four-lane highway.When the highway was widened to four lanes in 1974, then-Mayor J. Palmer Gaillard pushed unsuccessfully for the construction of two pedestrian overpasses.
In 2000, the state launched a $55 million upgrade of the bridge that takes traffic from Maybank Highway over the Stono River to Johns Island, and the city under Riley revisited the overpass issue, later changing the concept to a tunnel.
The city argued four years ago that Maybank Highway is more dangerous for golfers and pedestrians because of the bridge project. The new bridge is wider and steeper, and traffic now tends to come off the bridge faster.
That argument met resistance as the city sought funding for the tunnel.
The state Department of Transportation initially broke with tradition and refused to provide funding for the work, despite the recommendation of the Charleston Area Transportation Study Committee. The state reversed itself and provided $720,000.
On City Council, Robert George voted against accepting the state money for the project in 2002.
"Boy, you talk about sticker creep," George said Monday. "We're $300,000 over the city's latest reported estimate, which is itself more than council approved."
"I think we need to go back to the drawing board," he said. "For that kind of money, we should look at altering the golf course."
George noted there's already a stop light on Maybank Highway at Riverland Drive, and suggested that golfers could cross there if cart paths were altered.
Some members of the golf commission would love to see the golf course altered, but in a different way.
They would like to see the city pay for a complete renovation of the course, a $2.5 million job recommended by a consulting architect the course brought in last year.
"I think one of the priorities of the committee should be to get the city to give us the money to redo the course," committee member Morey Lipton said at the meeting this month.
Riley said the golf course's top priority should be the tunnel.
"Without this," he said, "you can make the golf course nicer, but if people don't feel safe, they may not want to play there to begin with."
Source: The Post and Courier (Charleston, S.C.)
