7/31/2019 B2B Cost Benefit P and C Report

1/3

Study: Route may net $42MDate: May 18, 2012 Section: Metro

By Robert Behre

Post and Courier

The idea is as ambitious as it is long: build a 32-mile safe cycling routestretching from the Isle of Palms through Mount Pleasant and peninsularCharleston before ending at Folly Beach. The "Battery2Beach" route has been adream for local cycling advocates for more than two years, but little haschanged on the ground, so far.

Today, however, the nonprofit group Charleston Moves will unveil a detailedcost-benefit study that says creating this bicycle route would cost about $20million but could pump more than twice that sum into the local economy in ayear.

That conclusion comes from the route's potential as a draw for visitors. Most of

its $42 million estimated annual benefit would come from increased tourism -an estimate based on a similar study on North Carolina's Outer Banks.

Tiffany Norton, a College of Charleston graduate student who led the studyeffort with Citadel Engineering Professor Jeff Davis, said she hopes it showsbiking and walking pay their own way.

"In the past, mostly they (bike paths) have been put in when it's convenient orpeople lobbied for it, like with the Cooper River bridge," she said. "Otherwise,it's been seen as kind of extravagant. With this study, we've shown it's morecost-effective."

William Davis, a civil engineering professor at The Citadel, said 25 Citadelstudents spent about 1,500 hours measuring roads along the route, usuallystarting at 6 a.m. Sundays. "That's not easy for most college students to do," hesaid.

But Davis, a practicing civil engineer himself, said the work should be found ofsimilar quality to engineering surveys done by the state.

Some sections of the route - such as the bike route on the Ravenel bridge andMurray Boulevard around The Battery - are in place. Other sections - likebridge crossings over Shem, Wappoo and James Island creeks- aren't reflected

in the $20 million cost estimate.Don Sparks, an economics professor at The Citadel and a longtime localcycling advocate, said most realize cycling's benefit on health and theenvironment, but it's good the study is pointing out its dollar value. Sparkscalled Norton's findings conservative and based on mainstream methods.

7/31/2019 B2B Cost Benefit P and C Report

2/3

"I'm a bit frustrated, frankly, by the lack of some municipalities to be proactiveon this," Sparks said of the Battery2Beach route. "Perhaps this study will givethem a shot in the arm to go out and promote this in a more proactive way."

Charleston Moves Director Tom Bradford also said he hopes the study pumps

new life into a project that could change local perceptions of how safe it is tobike the Lowcountry's streets.

"I think it will represent a sea change in how we think of our lifestyles,"Bradford said. "I think it will open up an active lifestyle to many people whonow just say, 'No way, no how.' "

Bradford said there's some reason for optimism. There are improvements alongparts of the route, such as the causeway along Ben Sawyer Boulevard linkingMount Pleasant and Sullivan's Island, that are paid for and should be finishedsoon.

And Bradford said he hopes Mount Pleasant, Sullivan's Island and the city ofCharleston will designate more stretches as part of the official route.

Meanwhile, the Battery2Beach route may be just the beginning.

The Charleston County Park and Recreation Commission is planning to createa web of bicycle and pedestrian routes across the entire county - from northernNorth Charleston to McClellanville and down to Edisto Island, director TomO'Rourke said.

The commission recently signed a $230,000 contract with Greenplay LLC tomap out the future of the county's parks. One of its subconsultants, AltaPlanning & Design, will suggest the best routes for biking between them.

"With a specific route we want to link all of the parks through all of the cities inCharleston County," O'Rourke said. "We'll have to do this with the help of allthe municipalities. At the end of the day, that doesn't mean everyone will comeout with bulldozers and asphalt trucks."

Instead, the plan could recommend steps as simple as re-striping roads for bikelanes the next time that roads are repaved, O'Rourke said, "but you can't doanything without a plan."

Charleston Moves also is pushing for improved bike access across the JamesIsland connector, as well as a designated bike and pedestrian lane on the T.Allen Legare Jr. Bridge, the northbound stretch of U.S. Highway 17 across theAshley River.

The greatest obstacle may be how the route should cross James Island.

"Fort Johnson Road is never going to be really safe because I don't think it canbe widened without some disastrous damage to some of the oaks," he said."We're not calling for that."

7/31/2019 B2B Cost Benefit P and C Report

3/3

Also, the drawbridge linking James Island to West Ashley is considered one ofthe least bike-friendly routes.