The Berkeley Charleston Dorchester Regional Bicycle and Pedestrian Action Plan

In 2005 a local advocacy group called Charleston Moves led a successful grassroots campaign to add a bike and pedestrian lane to the new Cooper River Bridge, the longest span bridge in North America. The regional planning agency, the Berkeley-Charleston-Dorchester Council of Governments (BCD COG), came away with a new mission after hearing the public input on the new bridge. Residents wanted bike/ped facilities added to transportation projects; unfortunately, there was not a comprehensive regional bicycle and pedestrian plan connecting neighborhoods and communities. Because of rising concerns about the health and safety of residents in the Berkeley Charleston Dorchester region, the BCD COG and its partners applied for a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation through its Active Living by Design (ALbD) program. With funding received from the program, the BCD COG developed the Low Country Connections Project to complete a Regional Bicycle and Pedestrian Action Plan to create safe and convenient environments that will enable and encourage people to be more physically active on a day-to-day basis.

The Berkeley Charleston Dorchester Regional Bicycle and Pedestrian Action Plan is based on three principles:

(1) Children should be able to safely walk and bike to school if they and their parents so choose.

(2) Roadways should equally accommodate pedestrians, bicyclists, and motorists.

(3) Bicycling and walking should become a routine part of daily activity in the BCD region.

The Action Plan has been developed and consists of three elements: Safe Routes to School, Complete Streets that are safe and convenient for all users, and Community Interventions that improve bicycle and pedestrian access and encourage people to walk or bicycle for health, fitness, and transportation.