Bluffton intersections get star treatment

Seeing the road in many parts of Bluffton should be a little easier.

Eleven intersections along U.S. 278, moving east from Buckwalter Parkway, are getting new streetlights to improve traffic safety. So far, eight intersections have been illuminated.

The county originally asked contractors to consider using light-emitting diode lights, which typically last longer and use less energy than lamps normally used along streets.

Cost was a major factor in the county's decision not to use LED lighting. Beaufort County's transportation engineer Colin Kinton said that using LEDs would have added $83,000 to the $100,000 project.

The county instead chose conventional metal halide lights. The winning bid, from Swansea's J. Moore Electrical Contractors, came in at $93,560.

Kinton says the contractor has three more intersections to complete. Pole extensions are needed before lights can be installed at Moss Creek. Two others, at Simmonsville and Bluffton (S.C. 46) roads, await the completion of a road-widening project.