Posted on Wed, Nov. 08, 2006

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Two agencies at odds over road plan

Transportation Department challenges DHEC directive on U.S. 601 project

By SAMMY FRETWELL

sfretwell@thestate.com

The S.C. Department of Transportation is challenging a directive from state regulators to protect wetlands and wildlife from a $37 million road project through Congaree National Park.

State environmental officials propose building longer bridges and shorter causeways through the Congaree River flood plain when the transportation department reconstructs U.S. 601 in the next three years.

But the transportation agency, which says it cannot afford extra bridges, has appealed the Department of Health and Environmental Control’s Oct. 12 permits.

U.S. 601 includes three bridges, with causeways between them, as the road approaches the Congaree River. A fourth bridge crosses the Congaree River between Richland and Calhoun counties.

The DOT prefers rebuilding U.S. 601 much as it was first constructed more than 50 years ago, with both causeways and bridges through the flood plain.

Environmental groups favor eliminating all causeways and bridging the project to restore the flood plain. Existing causeways, or earthen embankments, block animals from passing freely through the forest and restrict water flow.

Conservation groups say improving the flood plain is warranted since Congaree is the only national park in South Carolina.

DHEC’s permit decision adds more than 500 feet of bridges to the 22,000-foot U.S. 601 project. Nearly six acres of causeways would be eliminated.

“We came out with what we thought was a reasonable compromise,” said Gina Kirkland, DHEC’s water quality certification manager. “The additional bridges not only give you improved water flow, but they address some of the issues with animal passage.”

The agency’s board in September ordered its staff to re-examine the road project. Board members said they were not satisfied agency staff had done enough to protect the flood plain.

The road project touches the southern end of Congaree National Park, a more than 20,000-acre preserve with some of the tallest trees in the Eastern United States. The park is composed of swamps and flood plains that hug the Congaree River.

In its appeal, the transportation department says DHEC failed to meet deadlines on permits for the bridge. For that reason, DOT says the environmental agency has no authority to require longer bridges as a condition of approving permits. DHEC issues state environmental permits and approves construction projects.

The transportation agency says bridging the entire flood plain could more than double the project’s $37 million cost. Most of the project will be funded with federal money.

Environmentalists say the DHEC staff decision isn’t strong enough.

“We think the staff did this without having a good, solid basis of analyzing what it is going to cost” the environment, conservation groups’ attorney Jimmy Chandler said.

Three environmental advocacy groups — Friends of Congaree National Park, Audubon South Carolina and the S.C. Wildlife Federation — filed a federal lawsuit in September seeking to block reconstruction of U.S. 601 as proposed.

Reach Fretwell at (803) 771-8537.