South Carolina’s first bus rapid transit line is close to going out for bids. The federal money meant to pay for most of it has not been locked in yet.

The full funding grant agreement with the Federal Transit Administration for Lowcountry Rapid Transit is now expected in January, according to a project status report in the agenda packet for the Charleston Area Regional Transportation Authority’s Oct. 21 board meeting. “FFGA shifted to January pending final 3rd Party Agreement,” the report says. It adds that the remainder of federal funding “has been allocated in the FY2027 budget.”

In February, the project team had listed the grant agreement and construction advertising as fall 2026 milestones.

The 21.3-mile line from Ladson to downtown Charleston is expected to cost $625 million, with a $374 million FTA grant covering more than half, The Post and Courier reported in August. The newspaper reported that the FTA had not signed a new agreement under its Capital Investment Grants program since the start of 2025.

“Our project is currently not delayed,” Sharon Hollis, the project manager at the Berkeley-Charleston-Dorchester Council of Governments, told the newspaper then. “Our next step will be our grant agreement, which is scheduled for January.”

What contractors can bid on

The route runs from Ladson along U.S. 78 into North Charleston, then along Rivers Avenue and King Street Extension into downtown, down Meeting Street and along Calhoun Street to the Medical District and the WestEdge development, according to project materials. Plans call for 20 stations, 12.1 miles of dedicated bus lanes and buses every 10 minutes at peak and daytime hours.

The S.C. Department of Transportation will advertise the main corridor contract. It covers about 11 miles of roadway reconstruction, sidewalks and a shared-use path, utility relocation, roughly 70 traffic signal upgrades and 19 stations, according to the project’s construction opportunities page.

Total construction cost on that contract is expected to range from $300 million to $400 million, according to an August presentation to contractors by BCDCOG and SCDOT. That presentation listed a tentative March 2027 letting. The October status report says the bid documents are being prepared for a January 2027 bid date. The presentation’s rough quantities include 275,000 tons of asphalt and 112,000 feet of storm drainage pipe.

Separate contracts are planned for construction inspection, a park-and-ride lot, the system’s operator, fare and technology systems, 21 60-foot articulated buses and an operations and maintenance facility. The facility is planned on a 5.12-acre site at 175 Acres Drive in Ladson, with a 23,000-square-foot building and four maintenance bays, according to the presentation.

CSX, Norfolk Southern, Dominion Energy, the North Charleston Sewer District and Charleston Water System have signed agreements for utility and railroad work, and right-of-way acquisition is underway, the October report says.

What businesses on the route should expect

Current traffic plans include full closures of portions of several streets, among them Line Street between WestEdge Street and Hagood Avenue, King Street Extension between Lanxess Chemical Drive and Hackemann Avenue, and U.S. 78 between Montague Avenue and Remount Road during railroad crossing work, according to the contractor presentation. Some single-lane closures and weekend double-lane closures are planned downtown.

The project team said in August that it would go door to door in some areas to give businesses and residents advance notice of construction and its effects.

A dispute at the northern end

One piece of the line is in court. CARTA wants six acres of the Coastal Carolina Fairgrounds in Ladson, owned by the Exchange Club, for the park-and-ride at the line’s northern end. A judge ruled in June that CARTA lacked county approval to begin condemning the land, Live 5 reported. In August, Charleston County Council voted 5-3, with one abstention, to let CARTA use eminent domain, ABC News 4 reported.

Fair officials told Live 5 the lot is critical to fair parking and offered a different one. A project spokesperson said in a statement reported by Live 5 that moving the site would require CARTA to restart environmental review, “adding significant time and cost.”

At the August council meeting, County Councilman Teddie Pryor voiced doubts about the federal money. “I’m just worried about the federal government. They’ve backed out on us so many times. And we started this back in 2016, and we still haven’t put the first shovel in the ground,” he said, according to ABC News 4.

The Exchange Club has appealed to determine whether state law allows CARTA to take the land this way, Live 5 reported. CARTA’s October report says the agency is “waiting for a ruling from the appeals court.”

A hub on Rivers Avenue

CARTA is also building a place for riders to transfer to the line. In August its board awarded a nearly $14 million construction contract to Cooper Tacia General Contracting for the Shipwatch Square Transit and Workforce Development Center on Rivers Avenue, The Post and Courier reported. The building of more than 20,000 square feet will have 10 bus bays and house SC Works job services, according to an October presentation to the board, which lists a fall 2026 construction start and a spring 2028 opening.

The board is scheduled to vote Oct. 21 on a contract of up to about $1.99 million with Michael Baker International for construction inspection on the hub.

Project handouts dated Oct. 5 put the line’s construction at 2027 to 2030. The February update had estimated 2027 to 2029.