40 state legislators sign letter in support of Clyburn Connector

Forty South Carolina legislators have leaped into the fray over a proposed new bridge over upper Lake Marion that is being championed by Democratic U.S. Rep. James E. Clyburn.

Sens. John Matthews Jr. and John Land and Reps. Jerry Govan Jr. and Thomas Rhoad were among the legislators expressing support for the estimated $83 million project, including a $52.8 million, two-lane, 2.8-mile bridge that would parallel an existing railroad trestle.

The "Clyburn Connector" would link rural areas of Calhoun and Clarendon counties and create a direct road route between Orangeburg and Sumter.

In an April 1 letter to Elizabeth Mabry, executive director of the South Carolina Department of Transportation, the legislators said residents on both sides of the lake "have experienced deferred dreams for generations. Isolation and neglect have kept their communities economically and socially depressed."

Communities on the Calhoun County side have a black population of 52 percent, with 40 percent living below the poverty level. The figures are 76 percent and 38 percent, respectively, on the Clarendon County side, the letter said.

"A key to enhancing their quality of life" is building the bridge and connecting roadways, a project that Clyburn sees as an important part of his legacy as a congressman.

Residents in the affected communities support the Clyburn Connector, the letter said: "More than 1,500 of them have signed petitions calling for its construction."

"We pride ourselves on being protectors of the environment and are very pleased that the final Environmental Impact Study concluded that the construction of the bridge will not harm the environment in the impacted area," they wrote.

Gov. Mark Sanford and four Republican congressmen's demand for a cost benefit study is "partisan ... unprecedented, unwarranted and smacks of selective persecution," they charged.

"Aside from adversely impacting majority-black communities, their request could increase the cost and further delay" the project, the legislators wrote. "Why was not a similar request made of other state highway projects?"

The letter noted that the General Assembly voted to authorize a bridge in the area in 1968 and that in 1998 Congress declared the bridge a high priority and appropriated $6.5 million to fund appropriate studies and conduct other preliminary work.

If the bridge required $83 million to build and $17 million to maintain, and lasts 100 years, "the bridge would cost $1 million per year," the letter continued.

"We are confident that this region and the state will recoup that cost, many times over, in increased tourism and associated businesses such as conference and retreat centers, assisted living facilities, golf courses and bicycle and hiking trails," they wrote.

"The Connector will increase tax revenue and accessibility to jobs, educational opportunities and health care facilities," the letter continued.

"It will spawn needed infrastructure like potable water and sewage, making the land more valuable and attractive for indigenous people and their children to homestead."

But that's exactly why organized environmentalists and others oppose the project. They fear easy access would endanger one of South Carolina's most pristine and least-developed wilderness areas.

Senators who signed the letter include Robert Ford, Maggie Glover, Darrell Jackson, Thomas Moore, Kay Patterson and Clementa Pinckney.

Representatives who signed the letter include Jimmy Bales, Floyd Breeland, Joe Brown, William Clyburn, Amos Gourdine, Jesse Hines, Mack Hines, Leon Howard, Joel Laurie, Brenda Lee, Walter Lloyd, Walton McLeod, Vida Miller, Denny Neilson, Anne Parks, Todd Rutherford, John Scott, John Snow and David Weeks,

Several of the signers are not listed here because their signatures were illegible.

T&D Staff Writer Lee Hendren can be reached by e-mail at lhendren@timesanddemocrat.com or by phone at 803-533-5552.

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