A federal judge in Charleston has rejected a request by South Carolina Department of Transportation officials to be excused from a federal lawsuit challenging a $150 million bridge through the Upper Santee Swamp.

The lawsuit, brought by SELC on behalf of several South Carolina conservation groups, alleges that studies done for the Briggs-DeLaine-Pearson Connector failed to present the project’s impacts or examine other options for meeting the area’s transportation needs.

SCDOT officials had sought to be removed from the case citing federal funding of the project and state immunity. In an order issued April 16, federal Judge David C. Norton ruled that the involvement of state officials in the studies and in potentially building the project justified keeping them in the case.

SELC Senior Attorney Blan Holman said the order was a positive development. “This order ensures that state transportation officials will have to answer for cheerleading this expensive project even while admitting that it is not a transportation priority.”

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