Nine North Charleston road projects worth $431.4 million ride on a Charleston County ballot question Tuesday, Nov. 3.

Voters will decide whether to renew the county's half-cent transportation sales tax. The measure would not raise the rate shoppers pay. It would continue the existing 2004 tax once that program finishes collecting, which the county projects will happen in 2027, according to a Charleston County press release on the final vote.

The new program is expected to generate approximately $4.25 billion over 25 years.

CARTA Chairman Mike Seekings is making a final push for the tax. In a commentary published Thursday, Oct. 29, in the Post and Courier, Seekings wrote that Charleston County's population has grown more than 33 percent during the life of the sales tax program. Seekings represents District 8 on Charleston City Council and chairs both that body's Traffic and Transportation Committee and the CARTA Board of Directors.

Seekings credited the existing tax with helping deliver 895 miles of resurfacing and roadway improvements, 69 improved intersections and 49 miles of bicycle, pedestrian and multi-use paths since 2004. He wrote that local transportation funding has leveraged almost $1.2 billion in matching funds.

Biggest North Charleston projects

The North Charleston Journal compiled the full list of nine projects from the county's project map. The three largest account for most of the money:

  • Rivers Avenue railroad overpass at Durant Avenue: $175.9 million for a flyover so trains stop holding up traffic
  • Mall Drive improvements: $100 million to replace the railroad bridge, add capacity and connect a future rapid transit stop to the future Roper Hospital
  • North Bridge: $90 million for bike and pedestrian access over the Ashley River, with the South Carolina Department of Transportation

The remaining six projects range from $3.5 million to $17 million and cover work on Palmetto Commerce Parkway, Stall Road, Patriot Boulevard, Reynolds Avenue, Ladson Road and Ashley Phosphate Road. The ballot also includes countywide repaving, traffic signal timing and bike and pedestrian links to the planned Lowcountry Rapid Transit line on Rivers Avenue.

Two questions on the ballot

Question 1 asks voters to approve the half-cent sales tax for up to 25 years or until it raises $4.25 billion. The money splits three ways: $2.7 billion for roads and bridges, $858 million for public transit run by CARTA and $690 million for greenbelt land conservation.

Question 2 asks voters to let the county issue up to $300 million in general obligation bonds, repaid by the sales tax, to finish projects sooner.

Who votes

Not every North Charleston resident will see these questions. The city stretches into Dorchester and Berkeley counties, and only voters registered in Charleston County will have the transportation tax on their ballots.

Early voting runs through Saturday, Oct. 31, at the county elections office at 4340 Corporate Road. Polls on Election Day are open 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 3. CARTA is offering free rides to polling places on Election Day. Riders should tell the driver upon boarding that they are headed to vote.