In a recent column, I speculated that Volvo had straightforward, fairly obvious reasons for choosing to build a new manufacturing facility in metro Charleston rather than in metro Savannah.
In the last few days, we’ve gotten a little more news about that decision, which seemed to have surprised many folks in Savannah.
At an event in Charleston on Thursday, Volvo exec Lars Wrebo explained the environmental efforts the company is making.
“While construction will require filling nearly 195 acres of wetlands at the Camp Hall site,” wrote David Wren in Charleston’s The Post and Courier, “Volvo has agreed to preserve, restore and enhance 1,533 acres of nearby wetlands. The company also plans to power its production plant with renewable energy and will establish an on-site stormwater system with ponds that simulate wildlife habitats.”
An article in The State newspaper in Columbia, S.C., noted the pivotal role played by Volvo executives’ early visit to the BMW plant in South Carolina. It’s clear that the experience and knowledge of Bobby Hitt, the state’s commerce secretary and a former BMW bigwig — also was pivotal in the final decision.
Apparently, widening of Interstate 26 is already underway, and Volvo officials have been promised a new exit off the interstate. That will surely cost tens of millions of public dollars in addition to the $200 million incentive package already promised by South Carolina officials.
The AJC’s Greg Bluestein summarized Volvo’s decision in three words: “Incentives, infrastructure and experience.”
Given all the incentives and given Charleston’s natural advantages in terms of workforce size, it’s a credit to officials in Savannah and in Georgia that we stayed in the running as long as we did.
And a few words about local roads
We’ve had a terrible year so far on local roads, and current traffic problems will likely worsen for the foreseeable future.
The proposed regional T-SPLOST, which local voters overwhelmingly rejected in 2012, would have created funding streams to address problems at virtually all of the current choke points.
The new sales tax would not have added capacity to Interstate 16 in Bryan County near the site of the proposed auto plant, but it would have enshrined a timeline for widening the highway through much of Chatham County.
T-SPLOST would also have funded costly bridge replacements and other improvements on the road to Tybee.
As things stand now, Georgians are about to start paying new taxes to fund transportation infrastructure, but there will be few if any obvious benefits to the Savannah area.
The lack of funding will certainly constrain sprawl, which seems like a plus to many of us who study principles of good urbanism, but our lack of investment comes at a price.
City Talk appears every Sunday and Tuesday. Bill Dawers can be reached via billdawers@comcast.net. Send mail to 10 E. 32nd St., Savannah, GA 31401.