User:Carolina wren/Briggs-DeLaine-Pearson Connector

The Briggs-DeLaine-Pearson Connector is a 9 mi (proposed road project in South Carolina that if built would connect the communities of Lone Star in Calhoun County and Rimini in Clarendon County with a roadway and 3 mile long bridge across Lake Marion.  Because of environmental concerns and lack of funding, the connector has not yet progressed beyond the planning stages.

History
When Lake Marion was constructed in the 1940s, it cut the direct connection between Rimini and Lone Star, which had been on the direct route between the cities of Orangeburg and Sumter, South Carolina. Rimini and Lone Star suffered economically in the years that followed and there were efforts made over the decades to reconnect the communities and restore the straight line route between Orangeburg and Sumter that had been severed by Lake Marion. These efforts failed to make any progress until Congressman Jim Clyburn inserted an earmark in the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21) in 1998. Environmental groups have been been lobbying against the project and filing lawsuits over environmental impact studies and construction permits.

Funding
$6.0 million in Federal funding for the planning of the project was first provided in 1998 under TEA-21. As of 2008, $26.5 million in Federal funds have been appropriated for the project. As the project is estimated to require $150 million to be built, construction has yet to begin.

Name
Originally called the Clyburn Connector after the congressman who has provided the earmarks that have funded the project to date, the project was officially named the Briggs-DeLaine-Pearson Connector by the SCDOT in ??? after the plaintiffs in the Briggs v. Elliott lawsuit that was consolidated into the landmark Brown v. Board of Education case on segregation in the public schools.

Environmental concerns
Environmental concerns are centered on the effect that the connector would have on Sparkleberry Swamp.