05/14/2025
There is an executed agreement 5/12/25 among Charleston County, SCDOT, and the Infrastructure Bank to TERMINATE their Amended Inter-governmental Agreement that was signed in 2019 to construct the 526EXT. The essence of it is that some money is to be refunded to the County and the Bank by SCDOT ($3.1mil to County, $3.6mil to Bank). SCDOT will retain ownership of any rights-of-way properties that have been bought over the years (approx $48mil worth according to reports, that might not be actually correct). If this land is ever sold for other purposes then the Bank and the County would receive reimbursement of value for their contributions to its acquisition.
We also understand that efforts by County Council to secure federal permits are at this point not being terminated, and indeed there are some members who continue to try to do pursue these permits; perhaps that will be subject of a future Council vote in the near future.
While this does not say the project is totally dead given the ROW is still to be owned by SCDOT (i.e., the taxpayers), huge cost growth of road projects, future funding, permitting, EISs, and other hurdles (NIXers!) suggest that it would be extremely difficult to resurrect the project. There are some, however, who persist in pursuing this fantasy. More on that later.
For now, this is a HUGE WIN for everyone's NIX526 efforts for the difficult slog of the past 15+ years. Y'all should be immensely proud of what we all have accomplished by working, staying vigilant, staying diligent, and being strong together.
