SC Residents Not Happy About Plans To Open Cruise Ship Port
For more than 300 years, Charleston, South Carolina has been a port town. Cargo ships regularly enter the US and dock in Charleston, which makes this town one of the main transportation hubs on the East Coast. As Charleston has been struggling to attract new businesses, the state Port Authority believes that its new proposed plan to develop a massive cruise ship port will help to stimulate the economy. Local business owners agree, and Charleston lawmakers have largely supported the measure. Unfortunately, local residents fear that their town will be overrun with tourists.
The yet unnamed $25 terminal is to be built over 67 acres of undeveloped ocean front property. The current plan is to build a large parking lot that would service both Carnival Cruise employees and customers as well as several local merchants. Considering the fact that the cruise ship terminal will be located in close proximity to the existing Charleston port, citizens of the city believe that the local roadways will not be able to handle the traffic.
While the developers believe that the project will be a success, the critics also have a point. Whenever a large scale project such as the proposed cruise ship terminal is completed, the first thing that usually ends up happening is a massive increase in traffic. The state of South Carolina would need to spend millions of dollars to support the influx of traffic, which may end up negating the expected increase in revenue. Lawmakers have yet to vote on the project, but a decision will be made in the coming months.