Photo by: Judy Watts/Journal Scene

This photo shows the existing walking trail along Sawmill Branch and parking area at the current end of the Berlin G. Myers Parkway at Bacons Bridge and E. Richardson. From this view, the Berlin G. Myers Parkway will be located to the right of the trail.

There just might be a solution to the long impasse over extending the Berlin G. Myers Parkway, Summerville Mayor Bill Collins said.

Officials are now looking into widening the Sawmill Branch to increase its capacity and protect homes and buildings in the floodplain.

It’s a solution that had previously been considered and dismissed as too difficult, said Lt. Col. Edward Chamberlayne, commander of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Charleston District.

But staff members at the S.C. Department of Transportation, the lead on the project, have been brainstorming possible mitigation solutions and landed on Sawmill Branch improvements as the best option.

“The best, most economical option for mitigating the impacts the road will have in the floodplain will be to widen part of the Sawmill Branch,” Collins said.

This will require additional funding, but Collins believes the money can be obtained.

All parties involved in the road extension met Thursday, either physically in the office of S.C. Transportation Secretary Robert St. Onge or by telephone conference call, to discuss the years-in-the-planning road: S.C. DOT, the Federal Highway Administration, FEMA, the Corps, the Dorchester County Transportation Authority (DCTA), the Charleston Area Transportation Study (CHATS), Dorchester County, town of Summerville and Rep. Jenny Horne.

 “I feel positive about what came out of the meeting,” Collins said.

The mayor said all parties agreed that “no-build is not an option.”

Extending the parkway from its current dead-end at East Carolina Avenue all the way to U.S. 17-A has been planned for years.

Permitting problems, however, have kept the extension confined to the planning stages. Public meetings a few years ago indicated that building the road would require filling in about 15 acres of wetlands near the Sawmill Branch canal, requiring Corps-approved mitigation.

The canal itself was built in the early 1970s as a federal flood control project, and any construction that could affect flood control also requires Corps-approved mitigation.

That the project is in a floodway brings FEMA into the action.

“Those three things make this project a lot more complicated than others,” Chamberlayne said.

Horne said the biggest concern has been mitigating the floodplain impacts.

Widening the canal would allow it to handle greater flows so that fewer homes would potentially be affected by flooding.

Randy Williamson, DOT’s environmental engineer, said DOT will be doing the engineering study. He couldn’t yet give a timeline for when it might be complete.

But, he said Thursday’s meeting was positive.

“All the agencies are working together now,” he said.

As an example, DOT will submit its mitigation plans to the Corps and FEMA simultaneously and the two agencies will ensure their mitigation requirements complement each other.

Chamberlayne said the Corps doesn’t have a preferred mitigation strategy. It simply outlines what must be accomplished and lets the applicant decide how to accomplish it.

“We want to improve infrastructure for Summerville and South Carolina, but we also want to do it in an environmentally responsible way, in a safe way for residents,” he said.

Both Collins and Horne commended St. Onge for having his staff brainstorm options and for calling the meeting with all stakeholders.

“I’m very appreciative of Secretary St. Onge’s leadership,” Horne said.

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