Hate the Bluffton Parkway traffic circle? Join the club. But how could it change?

Some people who have driven through the traffic circle at the intersection of Bluffton Parkway and Bluffton Road hate it so much they simply refuse to use it.

They aren’t alone.

“The number of phone calls (from local drivers), the number of visits, the number of emails — this subject has been unending,” Beaufort County Councilman Mike Covert said earlier this week in reference to complaints about the roughly 7-year-old circle.

Councilman Jerry Stewart said, “From what I hear, a lot of people won’t drive there because they don’t want to negotiate” the circle.

What to do about the circle was the subject of discussion at a Beaufort County Public Facilities Committee last week.

Councilman Tabor Vaux said he supports an idea to eliminate the outside lane of the roundabout and force the right-hand lane to go right at all entry points, similar to the Sea Pines Circle on Hilton Head Island.

“I think that’s what needs to happen there,” he said.

“What do we need to make that happen?” Vaux asked county engineering staff. “I came very, very close to getting in a wreck there (earlier this week) — I know of six or seven people who have gotten in wrecks there recently.”

Stewart agreed, saying, “You really have to very careful or you’re going to be hit.”

“Something has to be done,” he said. “... It was poorly designed — period.”

Beaufort County traffic engineer Colin Kinton suggested that, if county officials want to make major changes, “one option may be just to take the circle out and put in (traffic) signals.”

But in order to significantly alter the circle by reconfiguring the lanes or replacing it all together, the county would need approval from the S.C. Department of Transportation, as well as the Lowcountry Area Transportation Study and Metropolitan Planning Organization.

Despite his criticism of the circle, Stewart acknowledged that “there is a dollar problem” associated with any major structural changes.

Demolishing the circle or acquiring more land around it to expand it to the size of the Sea Pines Circle would likely be a multi-million-dollar, multi-year undertaking, officials say.

Despite the complaints, Kinton said the circle helps to reduce severity of crashes by eliminating the potential for head-on collisions.

State data suggests the frequency of crashes at the circle is on the decline “at the same time that volumes of traffic on Bluffton Parkway have increased significantly,” he said.

But, “we can certainly ask SCDOT to look into” ways to improve the circle, Kinton told county officials.

Rather than replacing the circle with traffic lights or alter the lane configuration, a more cost-effective way of helping drivers enter the circle correctly could be installing overhead signage, he suggested.

“Right now the lane signs are posted on the side of the road and aren’t as visible,” Kinton said.

Councilman Stu Rodman instructed county staff to speak with state traffic engineers on potential improvements.

“Come back to us and let us know the best way to look at it,” he said.

This story was originally published August 29, 2017 at 4:01 PM with the headline "Hate the Bluffton Parkway traffic circle? Join the club. But how could it change?."