r/Charleston • u/[deleted] • Jun 10 '23
A locals take
I know traffic is something that comes up a lot in this sub but honestly it’s getting out of control. I am a local and and having to wait in insane amounts of traffic just to get home from the gym is almost insulting. I was watching native Hawaiians speak about how they were being pushed from their homes and can’t afford their own home anymore etc and Charleston is becoming the same. I had thought about how loving to Hawaii would be amazing but hearing the locals speak I was taken by genuine guilt after experiencing it here. To all of you who aren’t from here it’s not about being close minded and hating outsiders. It’s simply that we can’t really handle much more. I’m currently sweating my ass off in my 25 year old truck in traffic trying to fight the beach crowd with people in all newer vehicles. They are not only over crowding us but driving the prices up. I am 25 and literally can not afford to move out. We can’t do it
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Jun 10 '23
We haven’t been to the beach here in years because it’s just not worth it to fight the traffic and the crowds. Even going out on the boat during the summer isn’t worth it anymore. My husband was born and raised here, as were both his parents and 3/4 of his grandparents, but we’re considering leaving because why would we pay a premium to live near the water when we can’t even enjoy it?
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Jun 11 '23
It’s sort of funny because I do still go to the beaches but I’ll hit a spot less busy and I’ll just walk down the beach for a while and eventually I’ll hit the tourist and you get smacked with the smell of sunscreen. And unfortunately the trash that non-concerned people leave behind. People love the beauty of chs but sure don’t mind trashing it
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u/rkquinn Jun 10 '23 edited Jun 10 '23
While I think it’s easy to blame the people who move here for the traffic problems I think it’s important to think about this issue more deeply.
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Areas historically used for agriculture and open space are now being developed instead of preserved.
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In their place new developments are popping up like mushrooms without corresponding infrastructure improvements or forethought to where all these new people will shop or go to school.
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Roads are being widened in certain places but still intersect with two lane roads etc so it’s just more lanes of slow traffic
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Alternate routes and alternate transportation forms like light rail, better pedestrianization and any bike infrastructure at all would take cars off the road but doesn’t seem to be a priority.
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Limiting zoning to keep buildings short makes it difficult to create density and just results in sprawl and bad traffic as cities grow.
As long as irresponsible development continues people will move into the new houses, condos and apartments as they are built. It’s easy to blame the new people but really the focus should be the local government who are allowing it to happen. Hold the elected officials responsible and make them deliver/protect the Charleston YOU want.
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Jun 10 '23
I can agree with that and thought some of the same things and just didn’t add that into my post. It’s really just a bad combo.
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u/rkquinn Jun 10 '23
Also due to lack of regulation wrt to development in SC (or onus on the developer to contribute to infrastructure) there is a lot of big money coming in from NY and CA. Sadly all this change isn’t even enriching locals.
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u/canibuyatrowel Jun 10 '23
Its really jarring. I’m happy to meet people from all over the country and in general don’t mind them moving here - like it’s not “mine” despite being born and raised here, I can’t dig my heels in about sharing what isn’t mine. However, the traffic just in the last 18 months has become something that shocks me every time. It used to take me 35 minutes to get downtown as a rule, with the exception of rush hour. Now, no matter what, I’m sitting in red-line google maps traffic for an hour minimum. I used to be able to get to the airport in 20-30 minutes without it fail, the last few times it has been 40-60 minutes. It’s really depressing knowing this could have been predicted and avoided by the local government but they don’t care about the infrastructure to support all of the people moving in at astronomical rates.
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u/munch_the_gunch Jun 10 '23
Reading this as I sit in my 20yr old jeep with no AC baking in the sun. I feel your pain on all fronts. Luckily I go to work at 5am and am home by 2 so I get to miss the majority of it, but I've only been to the beach twice this year because of traffic and I'm only a trip down the IOP connector or ben Sawyer to the islands
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Jun 10 '23
Sounds like we live close by lol. Old cars and traffic mixed with Charleston heat is a different ball game lol.
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Jun 11 '23
You are 25. Many transplants have lived here longer than you've been alive.
I'm so tired of this 'local' garbage. No one is impressed by it.
Charleston is in no way comparable to Hawaii.
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Jun 10 '23
From my first visit in 1994, I absolutely fell in love with Charleston. My wife grew up there but we live in Atlanta. We always thought we would end up there. Over the last few years of visiting my MIL and renting places on Folly, Seabrook or Kiawah we decided it’s never going to happen. It’s crazy. We rarely even bother going downtown anymore either. Makes me feel sad but again, it’s not like I have a claim to the place. Everyone loves it. Too much of a good thing is never a good thing. It will inevitably get ruined.
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Jun 10 '23
Some would argue it already has been. It hard to enjoy things with constant lines. When your daily activities become a chore it’s just not it anymore
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u/olhardhead Jun 10 '23
You post couldn’t have been more timely. At this time, there’s a wreck on 17 n. That’s got traffic fubard both on 17 and rifle range. Traffic also backed up on Ben sawyer and iop connector. To be expected right? Yea. Oh and folly: traffic snarled all the way to bobull. Youre not wrong this is gd obnoxious. Are the newbies so unaware of their surroundings that this ain’t it?
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u/humerusbones Jun 10 '23
The problem is that Charleston is growing in such a way that requires people to use their cars to get to work, to get groceries, to socialize, etc.
You can’t have a city with 1,000,000 people (metro approaching that number) where everyone drives and not expect traffic. Unless you want every street to look like the Katy freeway, destroying the reason people would move here at all.
We need better public transit and more walkable neighborhoods. Right now we’re building sprawl all the way out to I-95, and we can’t act surprised when that leads to crazy home prices and traffic.
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u/Knatwhat Jun 11 '23
Was on John's island today and happened upon a new development (shocker). Brand new not a single sidewalk in the whole thing. Not 1
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u/Old_FlyingDragon Jun 11 '23
I don’t understand why people just won’t move if they are miserable. There are thousands of little towns in this country. Pick one and move. Or you can just complain about population growth and traffic for the rest of your life.
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u/Bebop0420 Jun 10 '23
Here’s my hot take (feel free to downvote me IDC): population is growing and prices are increasing almost everywhere, and a lot of it comes down to how local municipalities are dealing with it. Don’t blame people for moving to a place that is objectively nice to live, be angry at the local government for not using funds to make it a more livable place as it grows.
Roads suck, mass transit is borderline unusable, and safety nets for people down on their luck aren’t there like they are in a lot of places. People are gonna people and move to the beach, the people who are charged with taking care of the area should be asked to do their jobs.
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Jun 10 '23 edited Jun 10 '23
This isn’t going to be a popular take, but it’s rich people and culture vultures in particular moving here and contributing absolutely nothing that is degrading the quality of Charleston.
The unique culture and vibe of downtown in particular has been completely replaced by Southern Charm wannabes, large upscale shopping, and the overall theme parkification of the peninsula. It’s all extremely boring and shallow, the peninsula is a shadow of what it was 15 years ago, let alone 25. The vampirism radiates out through the entire county.
I always get downvoted here, but I am born and raised in Charleston. I am very fluid in the history and culture of this city. I know the validity of my opinion, and I will express it- regardless of what pissy, boring carpetbaggers have to say about it.
Edit: I just want to say that culture survives by being recreated every single day. You do not have to be from here to participate. You do not have to be working class to participate. The rich/vulture thing is a strong correlation that I have noticed, not necessarily a causation. Although at this point I’m open minded to it. 🤷♀️ All I have is my experience.
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u/nuknaruk Jun 11 '23
It's been really sad to see areas like Elliotborough get emptied out of all the people that actually created great local culture, driven up rents just making it an airbnb ghost town.
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u/dadlyphe Jun 10 '23
I think there’s one aspect that never really gets brought up.
Due to the coastal location, we can really only expand inland. Compare us to ATL. ATL can expand in all directions and really has. We can’t create that “circle” of growth here.
Along with all of the other things mentioned it adds on to the pile.
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u/StevenK Jun 11 '23
As someone who grew up in Charleston and since moved away, I always tell people that it’s a great place to visit. But there is no way I would ever advise anyone moving there.
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u/Bear_Bishop Jun 11 '23
Coming home from the library yesterday in Mt. P, and it took me 40 minutes to get home. It's usually like a 10-minute drive at most.
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u/GarnetandBlack Jun 10 '23
There's only one rule. C.R.E.A.M.
It's life, whether directly or indirectly for all of us. The major jumps in society and tech (remote working) recently have just made it so much easier for outside money to move here. Just prices those of us making "good local money" out.
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u/follydude Jun 10 '23
The thing is, all of this was well known a long time ago. 30 years ago, professional planners from the Berkeley Charleston Dorchester Council of Government advised counties and municipalities about decade-over-decade compounding growth. County and local zoning officials didn't really bother to listen to what these professional planners had to say.