Discussion of widening U.S. 278 marked by clashes over safety, environment

Safety is colliding with aesthetics and the environment as plans to widen the primary route through southern Beaufort County are revealed.

Questions about one portion of the 5.5-mile project on U.S. 278 arose at a public hearing in March and again during a discussion at a Bluffton Planning Commission meeting this week.

At issue is the state's plan to build a concrete barrier between the highway's eastbound and westbound lanes. The barrier would run for more than a half-mile from the S.C. 170 intersection to Hampton Parkway and stand between 2.6 and 5 feet tall.

State Department of Transportation officials say they need to add a third lane in each direction to reduce congestion and to install the barrier to keep drivers from crossing into oncoming traffic.

Opponents say the barrier could divert stormwater into the headwaters of the Okatie River and mar the appearance of the gateway to Hilton Head Island.

The river is one of the state's 970 impaired waterways, which means pollution levels exceed state and federal standards. That designation requires the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control to improve the river under the terms of the federal Clean Water Act.

Project manager Brent Rewis said in an interview Tuesday the state is aware of the concerns and is looking into adding stormwater-treatment systems to the bridge, but has little choice about the barrier.

The state is using land in the median to widen the U.S. 278 so it won't have to acquire as much right of way, he said. Widening on the inside also will minimize the environmental impact of the project, he said, as trees and natural areas on the outside of the road would be spared. A cable or earthen barrier or standard guardrail wouldn't work because the lanes in each direction will be graded at different elevations and there won't be enough space in between, he said.

Beaufort County is providing $3 million in sales tax revenue for the $27.5 million project, but Rewis said state engineers must adhere to state standards.

"It's something we can look into, but I don't foresee us changing the plan," Rewis said. "Unless somebody brings us an option that would meet design standards, we're going with the barrier wall in the center."

Josh Tiller, chairman of the town's planning commission, said he believes several other designs could protect drivers while looking better and keeping more pollution out of the river, which flows under a bridge just east of S.C. 170.

Beaufort County hired Tiller's landscape architecture firm, J.K. Tiller Associates, to design the landscaping master plan along the U.S. 278 corridor.

The state's planned barrier "basically is a funnel of runoff straight into the river," Tiller said. "We've got other options that I think would accommodate what they're trying to do with that wall without being such an eyesore."

The existing median is mostly grass with some trees. When the road is widened, Tiller said, he would prefer to have timber barriers erected on either side and maintain a depression filled with plants and trees in the middle.

If a wall is necessary, Tiller suggested the state use brick and keep some vegetation between the wall and the road.

The planning commission asked town staff to notify the Town Council about the issue, but it's not clear whether local officials will be able to influence the state's plans. No more public hearings are scheduled for the project, and the state's public comment period has expired. Construction is scheduled to start in summer 2010.

Don Blair, planning commission member, appears willing to fight.

"They will do whatever is most convenient to an engineer," he told his fellow commission members, "which is exactly what we don't want."