Letter: Beaufort response lacking on Lady’s Island

The Lady’s Island traffic meeting conducted by the city of Beaufort on Feb. 16 was all “smoke and mirrors.”

We heard: “It is too expensive to buy land to widen the roadways but make it look beautiful and that will solve the traffic problems.”

There was no mention of handling future growth. Today’s ideas are just catch-up. No mention of the safety of residents of the islands in case of an emergency evacuation.

No talk of how the traffic from Lady’s Island funnels down to two lanes near the Woods Memorial Bridge. No mention of a four-lane, fixed-span bridge to relieve traffic flow from Lady’s Island, desperately needed now. Without a new bridge, traffic will back up beyond S.C. 802 and U.S. 21 — already a problem.

No mention of what happens with the development of Whitehall Plantation.

Lady’s Island is an area where spending $32.5 million — the current cost for the Boundary Street Project for only a mile and a half — would make more sense and cover far more roadway.

Last, there was no participation from the packed audience to ask questions and share ideas, other than one person concerned about “his” driveway.

Keep the people in the dark and don’t give them a vote on the City Council. That is the city of Beaufort way.

Now we hear of the possible threat of raising business taxes on Lady’s Island businesses if the businesses do not agree to go along with the city traffic plan for Lady’s Island.

This story was originally published February 23, 2017 at 8:30 PM with the headline "Letter: Beaufort response lacking on Lady’s Island."