Hilton Head drivers can continue to use Cross Island Parkway toll-free

Drivers on Hilton Head Island will continue to cruise along the Cross Island Parkway toll-free for about another month.

Officials with the S.C. Department of Transportation have decided to extended a suspension of the toll that was put in place during the recent Hurricane Matthew evacuation, SCDOT spokesman Pete Poore said Tuesday.

Drivers will have until 6 a.m. on Nov. 14 to avoid paying the toll.

The extension of the toll suspension will help “permit traffic to flow freely while recovery operations continue on Hilton Head,” S.C. Transportation Secretary Christy Hall said in a statement Tuesday.

Poore said when the toll booths reopen​, the cost to pass will still be $1.25.

“There will be no change to the pricing structure,” he said.

The 7.5-mile parkway opened in 1998.

The debt taken on by the state to build the road is on schedule to be paid off by June 30, 2021, Poore said.

After that date, drivers will no longer be have to pay a toll, he said.

This story was originally published October 18, 2016 at 11:14 AM with the headline "Hilton Head drivers can continue to use Cross Island Parkway toll-free."