How busy was Hilton Head during July 4th weekend? The traffic and trash numbers are in
This year’s Fourth of July weekend on Hilton Head Island was precedented.
Crowds packed into Shelter Cove Marina for the town’s annual fireworks show on Sunday, which was canceled last year due to COVID-19. Masks were few and far between across the island. The weather was beautiful, with blue skies and warm ocean water.
It was all a welcome relief to pandemic-weary residents, who spent most of 2020 grappling with one unprecedented event after another as the coronavirus spread.
Pro golfer Justin Thomas complained a year ago that Hilton Head was “an absolute zoo” and had failed to take COVID-19 seriously. “There’s people everywhere,” he told reporters during 2020’s delayed RBC Heritage Presented by Boeing golf tournament. “The beaches are absolutely packed. Every restaurant, from what I’ve seen when I’ve been driving by, is absolutely crowded.”
Here’s how the July 4th weekend shook out in 2021:
Traffic counts rise
The number of vehicles crossing over the eastbound U.S. 278 bridges rose year-over-year following a pandemic slump.
The busiest traffic day in the week before July 4, 2021 was Thursday, July 1, according to S.C. Department of Transportation traffic counters.
SCDOT reported that 34,790 vehicles crossed the bridges to Hilton Head on July 1.
In comparison, last year’s busiest day was July 2, when 32,957 vehicles drove east.
The busiest traffic day in 2021 had a roughly 5.5% year-over-year increase in the number of vehicles en route to Hilton Head, SCDOT data show. Residents, island employees, vacationers and “day-trippers” from around the Lowcountry and beyond filled those cars and trucks.
Traffic was still down this year in comparison to 2019 and 2018, though, according to previous reporting from The Island Packet.
In comparison to 2021, for example, 2019 saw roughly 1,160 more vehicles cross the bridges on the busiest eastbound traffic day.
(While bridge traffic counts are not indicative of tourist travel patterns, they show that more people were out and about before this weekend in comparison to 2020’s holiday.)
The Cross Island Parkway in 2021 also saw a steady stream of cars just before July 4, after the tolls were dropped late June 30.
Trash cleanup
The Town of Hilton Head Island reported that Shore Beach Services from Thursday to Monday collected 2,602 bags of trash and 98 bags of recycling, along with 48 canopies, 354 chairs, 155 umbrellas and 238 items classified as “other” (body boards, fireworks boxes, etc.), according to Carolyn Grant, communications director for the town.
The bags of trash likely weighed over 78,000 pounds (39 tons) in total, Grant said, if each bag weighed about 30 pounds.
The town reported that 45 tons of trash were removed from beach trash containers last Fourth of July weekend.
