A historic promenade that’s protected the low-lying downtown Charleston peninsula for more than a century is getting a much needed ‘lift’ starting Wednesday morning.
The lower Battery seawall was originally built in 1909 and was finished in 1919.
City of Charleston officials say the wooden platform and metal fittings that hold the wall together have been deteriorating.
“It was determined about 4 or 5 years ago that the wall needed to be replaced,” said Frank Newham, project manager with the City of Charleston.
The Battery wall is 4,800 feet long in total. The first phase of construction will tackle about 1,000 feet of the lower Battery wall from Tradd St. to Ashley Blvd, raising it to the same height as the high battery wall.
Officials say they have come up with a design that will not only protect downtown from sea level rise and wave action during hurricanes, but it will also maintain its historic infrastructure.
“That’s one of the key elements to this project, said Newham. “We’re not taking the original wall out, we’re building on the original wall. We’ve worked with SHPO and the Preservation Society to have a project that I think meets any of their requirements and we will be monitoring this for any archives, remains that are found out there, they will be documented.”
The total cost of phase one is nearly $11 million. Charleston Water System will foot nearly $1 million of the bill and the rest will be funded by the city.
According to City officials, Crews will simultaneously be improving utilities on Murray Blvd, so the project will impact traffic. The outside two lanes on Murray Blvd. have already been closed. A detour will reroute traffic at Chism and South Battery.
Wednesday morning will begin phase one of the more than $60 million dollar project.
The official groundbreaking ceremony will kick off at 10:00 a.m. Crews will likely begin work shortly after.
