Light rail systems, buses and bicycle and pedestrian trails will be primary mode of transportation by the year 2030 as people travel from their homes to the workplace.
Over the next 21 years, the Upstate region of South Carolina is expected to absorb a projected 235,000 new residents, 118,000 new households and 203,000 jobs. As a result, an estimated one million new vehicle trips are projected on our roadways each day.
How Union and the other nine Upstate counties — Abbeville, Anderson, Cherokee, Greenville, Greenwood, Laurens, Oconee, Pickens and Spartanburg — manage this growth was the basis for Reality Check, a unique, one-day exercise to envision how the region will look by the year 2030.
Developed by the Urban Land Institute, Reality Check brought some 380 elected officials, business and community leaders together to develop a regional plan for managing growth in ways that enhance the quality of life for everyone.
Thirty-eight tables were set up in one of the ballrooms at the Carolina First Center, each one covered with a map of the Upstate that had no border lines. Using Lego blocks to represent new jobs and households, participants spent two hours envisioning how the region will look. Different-colored pieces of yarn were placed on the map to represent various modes of transportation — light rail, rapid bus service, bike/pedestrian ways and road, as well as green space.
Each table developed six guiding principles for growth and which helped them determine how the Upstate will look in 21 years. My table took the existing I-85 corridor and expanded it, adding more new jobs and housing, but including new modes of transportation to cut down on vehicle traffic.
A light rail system will stretch from Charlotte to Atlanta, with Greenville being the hub. The rail also extends down to Greenwood. Union County residents can take a bus to Spartanburg, where they can board the high-speed train, which will take them to major metropolitan areas much quicker than they could drive.
Our table also projected bike/pedestrian trails criss-crossing the Sumter National Forest, as well as green space along the Broad River near Lockhart and along the Tyger River.
A new road linking Union and Laurens was also included on the map.
Each table had its own unique model — some featured a corridor growth pattern — like my table — while others displayed a dispersed growth pattern. Still others featured a compact pattern. Some tables envisioned more new roads linking the growth areas of the Upstate, while others went with light rail and rapid bus service.
The exercise had another purpose — because participants from each cunty were divided evenly among the 10 tables, it created dialogue among people from different parts of the Upstate, helped break down barriers and created trust.
During lunch, Robert Grow, chairman of Envision Utah, told participants how his group used a similar project to shape growth patterns around Salt Lake City. He also related how Reality Checks had been held in other areas of the country, such as Charleston, Los Angeles and Raleigh.
Up until that time, I really wasn’t quite sure why I was invited to participate in the Reality Check. But when Grow began talking about planning not just for the next generation but the one after that and a photo of Grow’s six grandchildren appeared on the two large screens beside him, it all made sense — this wasn’t about our future; it’s about our children and our grandchildren. What kind of world will we leave them?
The complete Upstate Reality Check report will be presented in the near future. If the spirit of cooperation and single-mindedness displayed on Wednesday continues, the future of Upstate South Carolina is in good hands.
———
Near the end of the event, Upstate Together, which worked with ULI to bring Reality Check to Greenville, announced that it is changing its name to Ten at the Top to represent the 10 Upstate counties cooperating for a better tomorrow.
Post a Comment
