Why, exactly, is SCDOT pushing to scrap left turns on part of U.S. 278 in Hilton Head?
Hilton Head Plantation residents driving home from the mainland and longtime island visitors headed to Hudson’s Seafood House on the Docks would face an unrecognizable route to Squire Pope Road under the S.C. Department of Transportation’s newly released $290 million construction plan for U.S. 278.
State officials want to eliminate the left turn from eastbound U.S. 278 onto Squire Pope Road, which cuts north toward Hilton Head Plantation’s Cypress Gate and popular restaurants like Hudson’s.
The new plan would force eastbound U.S. 278 drivers to make a U-turn at a redesigned Old Wild Horse-U.S. 278 intersection before eventually turning right onto Squire Pope Road. (The Old Wild Horse intersection is about 0.2 miles to the east of Squire Pope Road.)
The proposal has already drawn the attention of the Hilton Head Plantation property owners’ association.
Why, exactly, is SCDOT pushing for no left turns?
Craig Winn, the SCDOT project manager, provided some clarification on the matter during a Wednesday media briefing.
Winn told The Island Packet that the new intersection would be safer and would prevent additional land loss in the historic Stoney community, which is bisected by U.S. 278.
“We were trying to keep the impacts to Stoney as minimal as possible,” Winn said.
If SCDOT were to add two more lanes on U.S. 278 to accommodate eastbound left turns onto Squire Pope Road, alongside its other proposed upgrades to the highway, the state might be forced to relocate two of the Stewart family’s homes north of U.S. 278, Winn said. The Stewarts are native islanders who have lived on Hilton Head for generations.
With left turn lanes at the intersection, U.S. 278 would have to expand another 15 to 20 feet to the north, Winn said.
As it stands, the SCDOT’s favored highway plan, an updated version of alternative 4A, does not include any residential relocations in Stoney. (The state wants to expand the entire U.S. 278 corridor to six lanes between the mainland and Squire Pope Road during a $290 million construction project.)
Two businesses, though, would have to move under the SCDOT’s plan: Island Psychic and Willie Young’s Upholstery & Fabrics.
Intersection criticism
The Hilton Head Plantation property owners’ association has previously taken aim at the state’s intersection proposals and expressed support for a different set of design concepts.
The POA has raised concerns over the state’s planning for the Squire Pope Road-U.S. 278 intersection and Wild Horse-Spanish Wells roads intersection. (SCDOT also wants to eliminate the left turns at Wild Horse-Spanish Wells.)
“A project of this magnitude should not seek to serve only the efficient and safe movement of vehicles to the south end of Hilton Head Island,” wrote Jon Heron, president of the POA’s board of directors, in a June 8 letter to Hilton Head Mayor John McCann and other officials, including Winn. “Designing these intersections needs to be a priority not just to move traffic on US 278 but to permit efficient turning movements to accommodate residents, workers and commercial traffic.
“We are cognizant of the effects these improvements may have on the Native Island communities and businesses bordering these communities. Therefore, careful reflection needs to be given to the Native Island communities and other local neighborhoods that access their homes and businesses via turning movements off of US 278.”
New grade-separated intersections, Heron wrote at the time, should instead be considered for U.S. 278. (These intersections significantly increase a highway’s capacity by “grade-separating the through movements on two intersecting roadways and interconnecting the two with ramps or roadways that form one or more intersections,” according to The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine.)
What’s next?
The state’s intersection proposals are sure to be a topic of debate this summer as island residents and the Hilton Head Town Council weigh in on SCDOT’s plan during a 45-day public comment period that ends Aug. 22.
People will be able to review SCDOT project documents online, submit written suggestions or recommendations to agency officials, attend an in-person public hearing on July 22 to discuss the construction plan, 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 U.S. 278 proposal.
You can go online to https://bit.ly/PublicHearing278 and click on the “Submit a comment” button. You can also sign-up to speak at the public hearing or schedule an appointment at the rec center. Click on the “Sign-up to speak” button or the “Schedule your appointment” button.
This story was originally published July 8, 2021 at 4:20 AM.
