Potential 3rd Transportation Sales Tax

[February 6, 2026]

Earlier this week, Charleston County Council convened in a workshop format to focus on the details for a potential Transportation Sales Tax (TST) extension. They received presentations on municipal priorities from Mayors Burgess (City of North Charleston), Cogswell (City of Charleston), and Haynie (Town of Mount Pleasant), as well as from Chairman Seekings of the CARTA board on transit needs, and Eric Davis of Charleston County on greenbelt program milestones. They also reviewed the latest project and allocation proposals from county staff and consultants. All of the slides can be viewed here.

The next evening, County Council had a more robust discussion of TST allocations during their Finance Committee meeting (recording here, starting at 46:02). Notably, there was consensus around increasing the public transit percent, in an effort to ensure at least minimal growth in CARTA service and capital improvements.

After substantial back and forth, the committee voted 6:3 to shift staff suggestions and allocate a future TST (projected to total $4.25B* over 25 years) as follows:

• 38% ($1.6B) featured projects
• 20% ($850M) transit
• 15% ($650M) greenbelt
• 9% ($400M) pavement management
• 7% ($284.1M) debt service
• 5% ($190M) bicycle and pedestrian improvements
• 3% ($125M) intersection safety program
• 2% ($113M) carryover project needs from the 2016 TST
• 1% ($25M) signal coordination

*the categorical dollar amounts do not add up to $4.25B

Full County Council needs to vote on these allocations at one of their next couple of meetings in order to put them out to the public for a 30-day comment period and stay on schedule to eventually get proper wording on the 2026 ballot.

Some of Finance Committee’s discussion included lowering the amount in the bicycle and pedestrian bucket, and we assume this will come up again at the next full council meeting. Prior to February 10, we urge you to take action in one or more of the following ways: 

• Reach out to your councilmember and tell them you support a minimum 5% allocation to a separate bike/ped program, and a 20% allocation to transit. Your expectations also include bicycle, pedestrian and transit infrastructure being funded as part of other categories. You can find your representative’s contact HERE; data to bolster your request is below.
• Sign our petition in support of the next TST funding a minimum of 11.6% to bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure, regardless of the funding category, HERE.
• Speak during the council meeting next week in support of spending a minimum of $493M on bicycle and pedestrian connectivity over the lifetime of the sales tax extension. Details to sign up and participate are HERE.

Your input is imperative to ensure council knows their constituents prioritize bicycle, pedestrian and transit investment. It’s not just “nice to have.” Investing in splitting the mode share and walkable communities is the only feasible way to mitigate traffic congestion and reduce sprawling development as our region faces a substantial population increase.

Charleston Moves and the East Coast Greenway Alliance have put together a list of priority bicycle and pedestrian projects across the county, with an emphasis on connectivity, leveraging multi-modal infrastructure that exists and is in development, as well as municipal priorities. You can view our list and maps here. Thanks to STV, Inc., we also have associated cost estimates.

Our suggested projects total nearly $493 million, or a minimum of 11.6% of the estimated $4.25B in generated revenue. That means not only is the 5% bicycle and pedestrian allocation critical to maintain, but that delta (6.6%) needs to be accomplished through the road infrastructure allocation by way of complete street projects.

Here is the breakdown of our suggested bike/ped priority costs by geographic region:

• City of Charleston: $183,496,000
• City of North Charleston (includes Better North Bridge): $181,755,902
• Unincorporated Charleston County: $60,157,000
• Town of Mount Pleasant: $35,888,000
• Town of Awendaw: $16,624,000
• City of Folly Beach (only Arctic Ave): $10,976,000
• City of Isle of Palms (only Palm Blvd): $2,968,000
• Town of Sullivan’s Island (only Ben Sawyer Bridge Causeway): $1,040,000

TOTAL = $492,904,902

• • • • This need represents 11.6% of $4.25B.
      • This comes to $19,716,196.08 per year, over a 25 year period.

As Charleston County Council advances their plan and continues to refine how this potential tax revenue would be spent, it is critically important that you let your council member know what you would support as a Charleston County voter. You can find their contact information (as well as identify your representative) here.

Data:

1. Priority bicycle and pedestrian connections across Charleston County would require at least 11.6% of the overall potential 3rd Transportation Sales Tax (TST) revenue. These are projects that fill critical gaps in the multi-modal network, increase safety, and expand opportunities for residents to more frequently choose biking and walking as a means of transportation — a viable strategy to reduce traffic congestion and reduce threats to rural lands.
2. It is critical for at least 5% of the potential TST revenue to go to a specific bike/ped improvement program. The remaining 6.6% that is needed to move the needle should be contemplated in road infrastructure, intersection improvements, and pavement management through “complete street” projects.
3. The public submitted almost as many bicycle and pedestrian project requests as road projects, but the delta in funding allocation by program is staggering. Pulling any more from the bike/ped improvement category does not align with the public’s input.
4. Developing a Countywide Bicycle & Pedestrian Master Plan, anchored in the 3rd TST by leveraging municipal and regional bike/ped guiding documents, would provide greatly needed oversight, accountability, and partnership capability that leverages funding and speeds up implementation.
5. CARTA has presented funding scenarios, and if transit is designated at 15%, they will likely have to scale back existing services. At 20%, they could increase service, expand the fleet, modernize their maintenance facility, and make a small investment in capital improvements. 
6. The 2016 TST allocated $210M (10%) for the greenbelt program. A 2026 TST allocating $650M (15%) is three times as much as the last allocation. From the 2004 start of the greenbelt program, only a total of $7.5M has been spent on “corridors,” and of that total, nearly $3M went towards closing costs, with $4.5M spent on right-of-way easements. Other funding had to be acquired in order to construct the multi-use paths.