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I was in Charleston twice this week, including West Ashley. I'm going to tell you what's the truth right now. Light rail and bike lanes had better quit being talked about and be put into action in short order down there. Traffic was absolutely unbelievable. I read Post & Courier articles about the need to plan so that years from now there aren't the degree of traffic problems that as far as I'm concerned are already an issue from what I have seen this week. I know it's easy to sit there in traffic and think how wonderful it is that all those people want to be there and that the traffic proves it, but in real life that degree of traffic is not good period.
You're exactly right. Mount Pleasant has already outgrown the highway widening from 2012. Everything in Charleston hinges on a few bridges over waterways. One wreck or disabled car clogs it all...because theres no emergency lane on the bridges.
Add to that a tourist population that in peak season can reach 50-100k a day...if not more...and yeah...they better figure it out. Unlike Greenville and Cola....Charleston cant grow in a 360 circle. The ocean cuts it in half...which is why the metro is a bit more dense and crammed in.
And the rich NIMBYs refuse to grow up...vertically. ..with taller buildings and parking garages. So the metro grows outwards...with more cars on highways.
You're exactly right. Mount Pleasant has already outgrown the highway widening from 2012.
It has not...and its not close to the worst road in the county, traffic wise. Sav Hwy and Folly Road are worse, and Calhoun can get unbearable because of the narrowness and Evil Knievel drivers, and Intl Blvd at peak times can move at a literal crawl.
Everything in terms of population stats and what city is really "larger" etc. is all so subjective with so many different measurements (i.e. city proper, urban area, MSA, CSA, County)
I think IMO the most accurate measure of a city's size is Urban Area population. This is the true borders of a city and the area it serves, its a cohesive area of development from the suburbs to the city center and it crosses county lines city boarders, etc which is what growth does.
You can get an accurate reading off of MSA really, and you certainly cant get an accurate reading off of city population, if that was the case, Atlanta would be considered much smaller than Charlotte.
I really think taking zip code populations and combining them to form an urban area population would give you an accurate and easily measurable and defined way to measure true city populations.
Yeah but I do believe at some point in Charleston that the building height rule will get thrown out because the peninsula just isn't big enough to the deal with the amount people that are Downtown in a given day especially in the summer. The roads around Charleston also aren't ready for the volume of people and the longer we wait on I-526 to get extended the worst traffic will get out to James Island, Johns Island, and West Ashley.
This is a post I made in the GSP thread. Someone asked me why I want Greenville to annex so much (the whole post is not about Gville):
Because like Redcliffe said, those areas "are" Greenville. Berea, Sans Souci, Parker, Judson, Gantt, etc. is Greenville. Taylors is not much different than Mauldin, both are sprawled out suburbs of Greenville, one is just incorporated. If you drive through both, you could still feel like youre driving through Greenville. If Greenville was in North Carolina, or even Alabama, it'd be sitting at 250-270K right now, up there with Greensboro and Durham, Birmingham, Chesapeake, St Petersburg, and even Orlando. Greenville already has a lot for its size, but It'd be great to see Greenville (and other SC cities) to be reflected for our true size.
People in Summerville complain about how the traffic is so bad for a city of just 46,000, but in reality Summerville is over 120,000 strong. Columbia and Chas are going back and forth saying whos the largest, but Cola has 80,000 people sitting right there in the NE alone. Just like Taylors, they're technically Cola, but Cola can't get them to agree. Heck alot of them already get Columbia services, not Richland Co. If this was NC, Cola as will would be sitting pretty at way over 200,000 as well. Every SC city is pretty much this way. The only SC cities that'd I say have a "true" city population is North Charleston and Hilton Head, because 1. there's no/very, very few donut holes, and 2. they really cant expand outward. Most of the people living around them belong to other cities. Every other city in the state has thousands of people sitting right on the outside, that if were brought to the inside, it'd be no different.
Lexington is not 19,000. In reality Lexington is about 99,000 people (and that's just Lexington, not West Cola and Cayce that are sitting right next to it with 66,000.) And Spartanburg is not 37K. More like 135K+. Anderson is not 27,000. More like 96,000. Bluffton is not 13,000. More like 36,000. Myrtle Beach is not 29,000. More like 130,000. And Fort Mill is not 13,000, but more like 77,000. And Easley isnt really 20K, but more like 60,000. Even Newberry is around double. Do you not think that's kind of crazy? Pretty misleading? Especially Lexington and Fort Mill. I personally think it is. I'm using zip codes so it's not 100% since some zip code areas can be quite large, but that gives a range of what the city really is.
Just my personal preference. I wish the cities here were able to show their true size. With our current city populations, yet our near 4.9 million pop, to someone who's not really digging into the numbers, we still may look quite rural, but really we'er sprawling.
The bottom line on this issue is that when a city has the largest population in the state and is called the largest city in the state in publication after publication, including brochures, business articles, etc, etc, only urban issues geeks like us say yes, but... and the image of that city in many people's minds is that it is the main city in the state. That was the case more for Columbia when it had around 100,000 and Charleston had around 75,000 or so.
If Charleston gets that designation it will not only have the national reputation of a wonderful place to visit, but it will be thought of as the main city in the state among many more people than the ones who already think it is. In casual conversations about cities and states among people who have at least a passing interest in where the main cities are in each state and know a little bit about them, knowledge that Charleston is the largest city in South Carolina will boost its image of importance even more, especially with Boeing, Volvo and the port being there.
For all the bashing Columbia takes from its haters, at the end of the day it has been tagged as South Carolina's capital and largest city for a long time, and it seems that it might become to Charleston what Albany is to New York in image and what Austin is to Houston in importance. It is sort of like a "changing of the guard" type of thing.
Also, I find myself wondering whether making the conscientious decision to live in the city limits of the major city within one's metro as a civic pride and duty type of thing makes a difference in people's opinions regarding the importance of which city in the state is the largest. I personally (Call me weird, obsessive, dumb, or whatever you want to call me.) would not move to "Washington, D.C." and not live in Washington, D.C., as in the District. I would not move to "Charlotte" and not live in Charlotte, as in not in Matthews. That is just me. By the same token I would not move to "Charleston" and not live in Charleston, as in not in Hanahan and not in Mt. Pleasant. I live in Columbia, not in Forest Acres, not in Arcadia Lakes, not in Blythewood and not in Cayce. If I chose to live in Cayce I would be all about Cayce on these boards. Call it what you wish.
Well thats what makes SC so unique. Columbia has title of largest city, but Greenville has title of largest county, metro, and CSA. And then Charleston has the title of fastest growing everything.
Theres no primate city/area, like Georgia with Atlanta, MS with Jackson, Nevada with Vegas, or Utah with Salt Lake, Illinoise with Chicago, MD with Baltimore, NM with Albuquerque, Colorado with Denver, WS with Milwaukee, RI with Providence, etc.
No one city in SC "dominates." All 3 are in control. So I dont think none of them will really pull apart from the rest. All 3 have been pretty consistent and each has their own thing theyre known for and offers.
Crazy annexation laws. You have over 100,000 people in the 29229 and 29223 (Columbia addresses) not counted in the city population and probably a good 50,000 in the 29212 and 29210 zip codes (Columbia addresses) not counted....Weird....
For the most part, the population of South Carolina is evenly spread out why most other states such as Arizona for example has 90% of its population between two cities.
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