[October 21, 2024]
Our longtime friend and beloved community leader, Tom Bradford of Charleston Moves and the Lowcountry Lowline, passed away October 14, 2024 in Atlanta, Georgia. Tom was tireless in his pursuit of making our community more livable, particularly through his advocacy for safe and connected infrastructure for people bicycling, walking and busing in the Charleston region. He did this work with wisdom, patience and grace, capitalizing on his unique gift for communication. A retired CBS News producer who moved to Charleston following a distinguished broadcast career in New York City, Tom and his wife Susan Bass wasted no time in becoming deeply involved in our community.
Charleston Moves had just incorporated as a nonprofit after winning the inclusion of Wonders’ Way in the new Ravenel Bridge, and was still all-volunteer when Tom stepped up to serve as acting director in 2006. Thanks to his steady volunteer leadership, the board and the nonprofit’s base grew, as did its effectiveness. He oversaw a fundraising drive that enabled the organization to hire its first paid full-time executive director in 2014, at which time he became board chair. Tom was a “passionate and purposeful Charlestonian,” as described in a Charleston Magazine profile:
“An avid cyclist, Bradford honed his vision for enhanced mobility and connectivity … [as he] soon went from weekend cyclist to City Hall regular. ‘Charleston Moves got me engaged in the conversation on livability and smart urban design.’ … [Bradford also] served on the mayor’s Peninsula Advisory Task Force, helped start Second Sundays on King Street, and [was] part of the Livability PAC.”
As an offshoot of his work with Charleston Moves, Tom helped hone ideas for what would become the Lowcountry Lowline proposal, working with others in the community to make plans and outreach for this project a reality. Again from Charleston Magazine: “Bradford is the kind of guy who goes bumping over old railroad tracks, but rather than letting shock absorbers mute the disruption, he lets it rattle his brain a bit, jostle his creativity. He looks southward where those old tracks at the intersection of Mount Pleasant, Meeting, and Upper King streets lead to a weed-choked, litter-strewn abandoned alley. There, he sees potential—green space, an urban park, a new bikeway and pedestrian route leading to the heart of the peninsula. That’s the vision for The Lowcountry Lowline, the livability improvement project that Bradford, as chair of the Friends of the Lowline board of directors, is helping steer toward reality.”
Even a recent move to Atlanta did not deter Tom from remaining active in steering the Lowline efforts. “The plans take my breath away, really. I love that the Lowline will bridge eight different neighborhoods, creating a conduit linking them and moving people through, from predominantly Black neighborhoods to predominantly white ones,” he said of this “game-changing” linear park that will enhance mobility, connectivity, and urban vitality and as it traverses the peninsula below I-26, an interstate that scarred once healthy, diverse neighborhoods.
Tom worked to make space for vulnerable road users on the Highway 41 Bridge over the Wando River, the Ashley River Bridge between the peninsula and West Ashley, and even in economic policies of land use and transportation planning in South Carolina. But Tom was more than a powerhouse advocate and community visionary. He was a mentor and dear friend to Charleston Moves’ staff and many board members. Tom was who you called when you needed strategic advice or just a good laugh. Above all, he was tremendously kind. He had unwavering passion, inspiring optimism, and the most sweet heart.
Tom and Susan were already missed when they moved from Charleston to Atlanta, and the world will not be the same without him. May we carry Tom’s legacy forward as we work to keep up the good fight for transportation choice and equitable mobility.
