Existing Hilton Head bridges to be demolished, replaced with one six-lane bridge, DOT says
The S.C. Department of Transportation wants to demolish all of the existing bridges to Hilton Head Island and replace them with a single, six-lane bridge that will fundamentally reshape the island’s only entry and exit point as part of a $290 million construction plan, the state announced on Wednesday.
SCDOT officials laid out their favored plan, or “preferred alternative,” for the sprawling U.S. 278 corridor project in a cache of documents published online early Wednesday. The announcement followed months of delays, as well as scrutiny and criticism from the public. Many have argued that the project will be one of Hilton Head’s most consequential undertakings this century.
The preferred alternative, which was selected from nine plans initially presented by SCDOT, is an updated version of alternative 4A, which the state proposed in early 2020. SCDOT’s chosen plan would:
Expand the entire corridor to six lanes, with one new bridge crossing from Bluffton to Hilton Head just south of the highway’s current footprint on Pinckney Island.
Require two businesses in Hilton Head’s historic Stoney community to relocate: Island Psychic and Willie Young’s Upholstery & Fabrics. (All of the rejected alternatives would have led to more relocations.) The original version of alternative 4A included 11 total relocations. The SCDOT wants to acquire 4.8 acres in Stoney, where generations of native islanders have raised their families.
Eliminate left turns on Pinckney Island and create a new underpass there to connect drivers with the wildlife refuge and the C.C. Haigh Jr. boat landing (which will temporarily close during construction).
Make the entire corridor’s speed limit 45 mph.
Reconfigure several major Hilton Head intersections. SCDOT officials want to eliminate left turns from eastbound U.S. 278 onto Squire Pope Road, among other things.
Impact 22.9 acres of wetlands. (Four rejected alternatives would have impacted fewer wetland acres.) The initial version of alternative 4A would have affected 18.5 acres.
SCDOT on Wednesday also confirmed that its plan would cost an estimated $289,902,745. The project was originally pitched to residents as a $240 million investment, but that estimate changed as the SCDOT’s various proposals were reviewed and tweaked. Officials as of last summer expected the construction to cost at least $272 million.
Beaufort County voters in 2018 passed a 1% transportation tax to partially fund the project with $80 million.
“These bridges will be designed for a 75-year lifespan,” said Craig Winn, the SCDOT project manager. “They will meet all current seismic design standards and basically improve the safety of the corridor.
“On each end of the project, you have six lanes. This provides the missing link in between.”
What else is in SCDOT’s plan?
The state expects construction to last three years, beginning in late 2023 or early 2024, after right-of-way land acquisition starts in early 2022.
The updated alternative 4A includes the demolition of Hilton Head’s existing U.S. 278 bridges and the construction of a new six-lane bridge to alleviate congestion issues and replace the deficient eastbound lanes over Mackay Creek. (SCDOT has estimated that the preferred alternative will save drivers almost 15 minutes of time driving east between Pinckney Island National Wildlife Refuge and Spanish Wells Road. The plan will save people 6 minutes driving west in the same area, according to the state.)
The six-lane bridge over Mackay and Skull creeks would cross onto Jenkins Island slightly to the south of the highway’s existing footprint. The new bridge would be built while the existing bridges remain open for traffic. The six-lane bridge would include a 10-foot path on its southern edge for runners and bicyclists, though the path would cross under the bridge at the entrance to Jenkins Island and eventually run along the highway’s northern edge on Hilton Head, project documents show.
SCDOT also wants to put a traffic signal at the Crosstree Drive-C. Heinrichs Circle intersection outside of the entrance to Windmill Harbour.
The highway would eventually run slightly to the north of the current roadway’s footprint in Stoney, sparing homes and businesses to the south from any relocations. SCDOT wants to build a pavilion just west of Squire Pope Road to honor the historic community and the Gullah Geechee people.
State officials also aim to reconfigure several major Hilton Head intersections. SCDOT wants to eliminate left turns at the Squire Pope Road-U.S. 278 intersection (eastbound drivers could make a U-turn at Old Wild Horse Road to eventually turn right onto Squire Pope Road); turn Old Wild Horse Road into a one-way street that connects drivers to Wild Horse Road; and eliminate left turns at the Wild Horse-Spanish Wells roads intersection (people in the westbound lanes could make a U-turn at Old Wild Horse Road to eventually turn right onto Spanish Wells Road in the eastbound U.S. 278 lanes, and eastbound drivers could use Old Wild Horse Road to get to Wild Horse Road).
“We paid particular attention to the intersection design because of safety issues throughout the corridor,” Winn said during a Wednesday media briefing.
Hilton Head Town Council members have criticized the state’s proposed intersection ideas, and MKSK, a Greenville-based land planning firm hired by the town for $98,660 this past spring, is reviewing the concepts and could suggest alterations to SCDOT’s plans.
MKSK has already argued for a wider multi-use trail on SCDOT’s proposed six-lane bridge.
Why did SCDOT update alternative 4A?
Alternative 4A initially proposed more relocations and right-of-way land acquisition in the corridor, project documents show. SCDOT has to purchase 34 acres under the revised plan instead of 36.8.
Native island leaders and advocates have fiercely criticized expected land loss in the Stoney neighborhood, which was originally bisected by U.S. 278 when the highway was built decades ago.
“We want people to understand our culture and our heritage is dying because of this road and the overuse of this road,” former Town Council member Marc Grant said in 2018 at the start of the project.
Winn, the project manager, on Wednesday said no residential relocations are required under alternative 4A, but two commercial relocations are proposed.
“We have met with each of the families within the Stoney communities,” Winn said.
What plans were scrapped?
SCDOT declined to pursue eight other U.S. 278 alternatives.
Alternative 1 was most similar to the current corridor’s configuration. It included the construction of a new eastbound bridge over Mackay Creek, south of the existing eastbound lanes, and the subsequent demolition of those old lanes.
Alternative 6, on the other hand, was one of the least similar proposals. It included the demolition of all existing bridges between Bluffton and Hilton Head, mirroring alternative 4A.
But unlike 4A, alternative 6 also included the construction of another new bridge from Jenkins Island to Hilton Head’s Spanish Wells Road area over marshland and historic communities north of the existing highway.
What’s next?
Wednesday is the start of the project’s 45-day public comment period, which ends Aug. 22.
Residents will be able to review the SCDOT documents online, submit written suggestions or recommendations to agency officials, attend an in-person public hearing on July 22 to discuss the preferred alternative, and set up appointments at the Island Recreation Center between July 14 and July 16 or Aug. 18 and Aug. 21 to learn more about the state’s proposal.
The public hearing will be held from 2 to 7 p.m. July 22 at the rec center at 20 Wilborn Road. People can drop by to ask questions from 2 to 6 p.m. An hour-long meeting for residents to speak out about the plan will run from 6 to 7 p.m.
Shawn Colin, senior adviser to Hilton Head’s town manager, expects state officials to ultimately spend two to three months responding to the public’s written comments.
The SCDOT could then release an updated version of its preferred alternative with tweaks or modifications, he said.
That might happen sometime this fall, Colin predicted.
“I don’t know if (that process) leads to a completely different alternative,” he said.
The Town Council will eventually have to decide whether it wants to approve or veto the state’s selected plan, according to SCDOT.
Some island residents have urged the council to flatly reject all of SCDOT’s initial proposals, demanding a better process for determining what will happen to the 4.14-mile stretch of highway between Moss Creek Drive in Bluffton and Spanish Wells Road on the island.
MKSK, the land planning firm, is expected to play a major role in Town Council conversations this summer about alternative 4A.
“We may have no chance of stopping the SCDOT’s public hearing on the 22nd, because that’s right around the corner, OK? But we do have the responsibility of improving our quality of life,” said Alex Brown, who represents Ward 1 on the Town Council, in late June. “We’ve got a lot of work to do. We’re nowhere near the finish line at all.”
This story was originally published July 7, 2021 at 4:20 AM.
