Hilton Head streetlight project hits snag: Plans are $42K over-budget. What’s next?
A plan to install street lights at nine dark Hilton Head Island crosswalks — starting with the spot where an 11-year-old girl was killed last year — has slowed because only one construction firm bid on the project.
The sole bid the Town of Hilton Head received was $42,000 over the $80,000 budgeted, town engineer Jeff Buckalew told the public safety committee meeting on Monday.
The project is slated to add a handful of overhead street lights at U.S. 278 and the entrance to Yacht Cove, the mid-island community where 11-year-old Charli Bobinchuck was struck and killed in June 2018.
After nearly a year of pressure from Bobinchuck’s family, neighbors and bicycle safety advocates, the Hilton Head Island Town Council approved the pilot project earlier this year on a strict timeline. Once overhead lights are installed at the Yacht Cove entrance, the council plans to put similar lights at eight other crosswalks on the island that have no signals.
But the cost estimate from the single bidder for one intersection was $122,000, Buckalew said. Council members cautioned against accepting the bid since they will need to install lights at eight other intersections:
- Fresh Market Shoppes near Legendary Golf’s Miniature Putt Putt Course
- Regency Drive near Red Roof Inn and Stack’s Pancakes
- Chamber of Commerce Drive
- Burkes Beach Road near Sherwin-Williams
- Northridge Drive near Stein Mart and Sunoco
- Palmetto Parkway near Station One and The Oaks
- Central Avenue near Festival Centre at Indigo Park and Walmart
- Old Wild Horse Road near Old School House Park
“If we’re planning on doing this throughout the island at one time, my question is, why is it costing so much? And why aren’t we getting more bids?” Ward 1 representative Marc Grant asked.
Buckalew said he suspected the single installation site may not have been enough work to persuade construction firms from off-island to travel to Hilton Head.
“Most of these companies are from out of town, so we’ll make it worth their while to come down here,” he said.
The committee agreed to put the project back out for bid and to combine it with a crosswalk project at South Forest Beach — which will add a pedestrian-activated flashing sign at the crosswalk between the Coligny Beach parking lot and the beach park.
“There’s so much work off island, these contractors don’t need the hassle coming on-island,” Ward 5 representative Tom Lennox said. “It makes sense combining the work to get more bids.”
Under pressure from council to move quickly, Buckalew said he will ask for bids on the combined project again and have a new plan for the committee next month.
What will the lighting look like?
The town’s design review board last looked at the plans for lighting in January. It came back with three conclusions:
- It approved an LED light fixture the town has used in the past for parking-lot lighting for the crosswalk at Yacht Cove.
- It said the color and shape of crosswalk lights should be consistent with the bronze traffic-light mast arms already in place on the island, although much smaller and thinner.
- The lighting fixtures should be consistent with the height of traffic lights on the island. That will make the area seem more like a pedestrian crossing and less like a lighted highway.
Originally the Palmetto Electric utility company was expected to take on the lighting project for $30,000, but Buckalew said Monday that the company backed out because it “did not want to get into the streetlight business.”
Charlifest music event
As the town grapples with attempts to light its dark crosswalks, the project’s supporters are preparing for the second annual “Charlifest” from noon until 5 p.m. Nov. 2 at Coligny Plaza near the FISH restaurant on Hilton Head Island.
The event celebrating Charli’s life will feature local bands, crafts, free food from the Coligny-area restaurants, a silent auction and a cash bar, according to the Facebook page.
All proceeds will benefit Charli’s Critters Fund at the Community Foundation of the Lowcountry, a charity to help fund her mother Daisy’s efforts to educate children on the island about wildlife.
“We just want to keep her legacy alive and raise this money to help her mom do the shows and take care of critters the way Charli would want her to,” organizer Sonie Johnson told The Island Packet.
