Port of Charleston selected as a top transportation infrastructure project

WASHINGTON, July 18 /U.S. Newswire/ — The Port of Charleston and Interstate 95 have been selected as South Carolina’s top transportation infrastructure projects of the 20th century by the Washington, D.C.-based American Road & Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA).

ARTBA, which is celebrating its 100th Anniversary this year, conducted a national survey to help identify the top transportation projects of the past century in all 50 states. The survey went to members of Congress, the nation’s governors, state transportation department heads, newspaper editors, state and local chambers of commerce executives and college history professors.

The Port of Charleston is South Carolina’s major economic gateway to the world. The facility is nation’s sixth largest port in value of international shipments, handling $33 billion worth of cargo a year, and the second biggest container port, following only New York-New Jersey on the East and Gulf Coasts in shipping container volume.

Operated by the South Carolina State Ports Authority, the Port of Charleston recorded visits by nearly 2,000 ships and 125 barges in 2000. To handle the expected growth in shipping, planning is underway for millions of dollars in improvements to the port.

I-95 follows a largely rural path as it slices 200 miles across South
Carolina, but it occupies a central role in the state’s transportation
network as it carries traffic up the East Coast. As the only north-south Interstate running from border to border in South Carolina, I-95 is a vital link for moving the state’s people and products to and from the Northeast and southward to Georgia and Florida. I-95 carries approximately 34,500 vehicles daily. It also connects with two east-west routes, I-20 and I-26, providing connections to the port of Charleston, the state capital at Columbia and destinations further west.

For 100 years, ARTBA has exclusively represented the U.S. transportation construction industry in the Nation’s Capital. The association has played a key leadership role in the development and passage of every major piece of federal transportation legislation enacted by Congress over the past century.

The transportation construction industry the award-winning ARTBA represents generates $200 billion in U.S. economic activity annually and sustains the employment of 2.5 million Americans. Additional information about the association can be found online at www.artba.org