City of Charleston presents design update for Ashley River Crossing

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCBD) — The city of Charleston presented designs for the Ashley River Crossing project Tuesday night, which will give pedestrians and bikers a safer passage between the peninsula and West Ashley.

The original design for the project only had one landing place at Bee street. The updated design will give access under the bridge to Brittlebank Park and provide a viewing platform with a view of the Ashley river.

Mayor William Cogswell says the plan is in budget and construction on a portion of the project is already underway.

“I think it will be safer and a lot more pedestrian friendly as well. It was designed to allow for future battery extension as well. When you design projects like this you don’t want to just think 2 or 3 years down the road you want to think 25 or 50 years down the road,” said Cogswell.

‘Charleston Moves,’ a group that advocates for bicyclist and pedestrian safety, was at the meeting and they say that they’re excited to see the plan come to life.

“Actually, seeing construction starting, actually seeing almost final designs those are two steps…I cannot emphasize how exciting this is especially as someone who has been biking over the bridge for the last 17 or 18 years,” said Katie Zimmerman, Executive Director of Charleston Moves.

The project is mostly federally funded and will cost a toal of 92 million with the city contributing 9.9 million dollars. Another part of the project is making the slip lanes by the bridge safer.

“We’re doing some more landscaping and beautification in this opportunity as well as making it a little safer because right now people come flying through that slip lane and that can make it very dangerous,” said Cogswell.

‘Charleston Moves’ says they think the bridge and its landings will be great for commuters and recreational use.

“It’s going to be a much flatter shorter bridge so I think you are going to see a lot more users who are using it to commute rather than just recreational but I think we will see recreational users and tourists I think it will end up becoming a draw,” said Zimmerman.

The project will now go back to city council for approval.