Hilton Head’s High Line? Officials unveil early ideas for bridge park on U.S. 278
What will happen to 1.2 miles of old four-lane bridges leading to Hilton Head Island when a new corridor is built in the next five years?
At least one state official wants it to become a massive linear park that could host festivals, public art and create a pedestrian and cyclist connection to the mainland.
According to designs obtained by The Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette, S.C. Rep. Jeff Bradley is advocating for bike and walking lanes, landscaping and vistas over Skull Creek. The park would take up the same footprint where 65,000 cars pass between the island and mainland today.
“I was looking at this, and what a terrible thing to waste,” he told The Island Packet on Friday. “When we expend resources and produce something like this, why should we just tear it down?”
Bradley is referencing the U.S. 278 corridor project, which is in the works for the entrance to the island. The project, which will cost over $300 million, will include demolition of the existing bridges to the island. Island residents, specifically in the Stoney community at the base of the bridge, are concerned there isn’t enough public input on the project and that historic families will be displaced.
Craig Winn, the project manager for the S.C. Department of Transportation, said that demolition could cost around $10 million, Bradley said. Instead of spending money to destroy the bridges, Bradley said he wants to keep the massive concrete structures and make the pedestrian and cyclist passageway separate from the new bridges.
Town residents, specifically cyclist groups, have long advocated for a safe way to cross the bridges to the island.
In a news conference Monday, Bradley said he’s spoken with civil engineers to create a parking lot on the Hilton Head side of the bridges on Jenkins Island. The parking lot would be used to access the bridge park, and Bradley said it could go on town-owned land where large power lines now connect the island with the mainland.
Bradley said he doesn’t have an exact cost for the park, and it would need to be approved by local governments. He said if approved, demolition costs could be transferred to a trust for the creation and maintenance of the park, which Bradley estimates to be between $5 million and $10 million and between $300,000 and $500,000, respectively.
Bradley said he is creating a nonprofit organization, the Calibogue Skyway Park Foundation, to promote the project and eventually gather public input. The organization is not yet registered with the Internal Revenue Service, but the IRS website has advertised delays due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Among the town and county leaders attending the news conference were Town Manager Steve Riley and Assistant Town Manager Josh Gruber, Beaufort County Administrator Ashley Jacobs, County Council member Stu Rodman, Hilton Head Island-Bluffton Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Bill Miles and Hilton Head Town Council member Glenn Stanford. Many expressed support for the project.
Miles encouraged those at the news conference to “circle around, support, then figure out the details” of the project. Bradley said the highway park, if created, would likely be owned by Beaufort County.
Mark Baker, president of Wood + Partners landscape architecture, said the firm prepared the design for the park for Bradley pro bono. He said the design is inspired from rooftop garden planning and that the old bridges could become a recreation destination.
Bradley said the U.S. 278 corridor project is not expected to be complete until 2027, and said he has several years to firm up plans for the park.
Some who are critical of the corridor project have called the skyway park a “diversion” from the highway project, including former County Council member Steve Baer. Baer and an increasing chorus of others are calling for an independent consultant to review SCDOT’s plans for the corridor, the costs and effects on historic neighborhoods at the base of the bridges.
For more information on the U.S. 278 corridor project, see The Island Packet’s coverage.
This story was originally published August 24, 2020 at 3:00 PM.
