Charleston officials going 140 feet underground to tackle flooding

CHARLESTON, SC (WCSC) - The City of Charleston is going 140 underground to tackle flooding issues that have plagued the city.

On Friday, our cameras got close-up look at one of the big projects designed to eventually send floodwaters into the Ashley River.

We went inside the tunnels that are part of the Spring Fishburne Drainage project for Charleston’s west side.

This part of the project started back in 2016.

South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster and Charleston Mayor John Tecklenburg also got a tour of the tunnels.

“All of this hidden but underground infrastructure will drain a 650 acre basin that includes the hospital district, that includes the Septima Clark Parkway which is essential to our mobility and transportation in the Lowcountry,” Tecklenburg said after the tour.

The tunnel system will stretch more than a mile and a half and send the storm water to a pump station before it goes into the river.

The governor was impressed by what he saw underground.

“This whole place is a great part of South Carolina and we need to be assured it’s working 100 percent. We got to get rid of this water,” McMaster said.

The Spring Fishburne project is scheduled to be completed in the year 2023.

Taxpayers hope the $197 million price tag will be money well spent.

The Spring Fishburne project is the third of five phases to help with flooding in the downtown area.

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