CofC Joins Effort to Reduce Area Traffic Congestion

The College of Charleston is joining 17 local businesses to reduce traffic congestion in the tri-county area. The Reboot the Commute project is an employer-led traffic mitigation campaign that challenges people to help reduce regional traffic congestion.

The project encourages organizations to implement positive changes by encouraging alternative commuting strategies like telecommuting, staggered start times, ridesharing and connecting employees to local transit resources like CARTA and LowcountryGO.

“The College of Charleston is pleased to partner with other area organizations in rebooting the commute to help alleviate traffic congestion,” said College of Charleston Interim President Stephen C. Osborne ’73. “When residents of the Lowcountry all work together there’s no limit to what we can do to better all of our lives and our communities.”

Reboot the Commute has established an online guide designed to help people find better ways to reduce traffic congestion in Charleston, Dorchester and Berkeley counties.

According to the Charleston Center for Business Research, 81 percent of area commuters drive alone in a car to work and 60 percent of area commuters drive between 6 a.m. and 8:30 a.m. If just 4 percent of the region’s commuters changed their behavior during peak times, it could completely clear an entire lane of Interstate-526.

“Traffic congestion is a critical challenge affecting the quality of life and productivity of our region’s workforce,” said Anita Zucker, The InterTech Group CEO and Economic Leadership Council Chair. “For decades, investments in transportation infrastructure and affordable housing near job centers haven’t kept up with the region’s steady population growth. If we are to create and sustain a community where people and businesses thrive for generations, where we nurture our environment, character and culture – we must invest in infrastructure and housing, and we must remake how we commute.”