‘We can do better than this’: Hilton Head residents blast US 278 plan at DOT hearing
Belinda Stewart Young stood before the silent crowd of Hilton Head Island residents and paused, taking a moment to collect her thoughts.
Young, a native islander, had two minutes to speak late Thursday during the S.C. Department of Transportation’s long-awaited public hearing over the U.S. 278 corridor project.
Like dozens of other residents, Young was frustrated by the state’s preferred construction plan, which was released earlier this month, and had only a few moments to raise her objections.
So Young, echoing several other speakers, began her speech by simply telling SCDOT and the town, “You can do better than this.”
That was the prevailing sentiment at the Thursday hearing, where roughly 30 people spoke to a crowd of about 200 onlookers, and residents crammed into gymnasium bleachers at the Island Recreation Center to hear more about the SCDOT’s $290 million proposal.
A handful of people seemed to support the state’s plan. One resident said a compromise is inevitable.
“Maybe this project’s a C now. Hopefully we can get it to a B. But these are competing things that we want. We’re never going to get an A,” said John Taylor, who has served on the town’s gateway corridor committee.
The majority of speakers, though, used their time to describe a litany of concerns about the SCDOT proposal, and some called for it to be completely rejected.
Hilton Head Plantation residents took issue with the state’s plan to scrap left turns at the Squire Pope Road-U.S. 278 intersection. Native islanders in the historic Stoney community pleaded with officials to mothball the proposed highway widening in their neighborhood. And activists argued that the SCDOT’s study scope and traffic projections were both flawed.
“Go back to the drawing board,” said Patsy Brison, co-founder of the Coalition of Island Neighbors, or COIN.
“We can do better than this,” said Alex Brown, who represents Ward 1 on the island’s Town Council.
“Fix the bridge ... but hold off on this road, right now. Let’s find a better way,” said John Stewart, a native islander who lives in Stoney. “We all gotta get together, come together, as one. This is the time to do it. ... When it affects Stoney, it’s going to affect everybody.”
Here’s a look at some of the biggest issues raised during the Thursday hearing.
Expanding U.S. 278 in Stoney
Several residents said they opposed the proposed road widening in Stoney. SCDOT wants to expand U.S. 278 to six lanes through the entire corridor; acquire 4.8 acres in Stoney; and relocate two businesses in the area: Island Psychic and Willie Young’s Upholstery & Fabrics. (All of the state’s rejected plans would have led to more relocations.)
SCDOT, Young argued, should build a completely new bridge that connects the south end of Hilton Head to the mainland.
“A better solution, if you ask me, is another way off the island, not just for my family or Stoney, but for everyone,” she said.
Having only a single entry and exit point to Hilton Head is dangerous, especially during hurricane season, said Young, who lives in Stoney.
Stewart, meanwhile, added that once SCDOT finishes the highway project, island residents will be left to deal with the construction’s long-term impacts. Stewart thinks the state should fix the deficient eastbound U.S. 278 lanes over Mackay Creek and hold off on other road work for now.
“I’m mad, I’m angry, I’m frustrated,” he said. “We got to do better.”
Luana Graves Sellars, a leader in the island’s Gullah community, said, “Stoney’s designation as a traditional cultural property is not just a box to be checked.”
Jessie White, south coast office director for the Coastal Conservation League, is also upset by the proposed impacts in Stoney.
“It’s precisely these types of road improvements that have led to the near extinction of the thriving center that once defined Stoney,” White said.
A few others, though, had different opinions. Mary Read, of Hilton Head Plantation, said she supported roadway widening to reduce congestion. Off-island workers, she said, need to wake up “at the crack of dawn” to drive to their jobs on Hilton Head.
Jack Alderman, who also lives in the north-end gated community, said he thinks six lanes will probably be necessary.
Taylor, meanwhile, said the proposed widening would not be significant.
“We want to fix our traffic problems, we want safe travel for vehicles and pedestrians, (to) protect and enhance our history and our Stoney community, and a gateway to the island,” he said. “The challenge is that those things compete against each other.”
Hilton Head intersections
Hilton Head Plantation residents fiercely criticized the SCDOT’s proposed reconfiguration of major island intersections.
“This is not about the people that live here. This is about moving people to the south end of the island, maybe. Maybe moving them successfully to the south end of the island,” said Peter Kristian, general manager of Hilton Head Plantation.
State officials want 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 Spanish Wells-Wild Horse roads intersection (people in the westbound U.S. 278 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).
The U-turn ideas for Old Wild Horse Road are “ill-advised,” Kristian said.
Tractor-trailer trucks would be forced down Old Wild Horse Road under the state’s plan, he said.
Like Young, Brown and others, including Tamara Becker, who represents Ward 4 on Town Council, Kristian said: “We can do a lot better than this.”
The Hilton Head Plantation property owners’ association previously took aim at the state’s intersection proposals and expressed support for a different set of design concepts: grade-separated intersections. (These intersections align a junction of two or more roadway axes at different heights so they do not disrupt traffic flow on other transit routes when they cross each other.)
Windmill Harbour traffic signal
SCDOT wants to put a traffic signal on U.S. 278 outside the entrance to Windmill Harbour on Jenkins Island.
Windmill Harbour residents on Thursday expressed support for the signal, arguing that heavy traffic on that part of the highway has been a longstanding safety concern for the community.
“We think that the stoplight will save lives in the long run,” said Charles Perry, who said he represented the Windmill Harbour Association.
Other residents took issue with his assessment.
Alderman, for example, who lives in Hilton Head Plantation, told SCDOT officials to rethink their Windmill Harbour idea.
Vehicles will pass over the proposed bridge at high speeds, round a corner on Jenkins Island and immediately face a traffic signal, Alderman said.
That seems dangerous, he said.
What’s next?
People can still submit public comments about the SCDOT plan through Aug. 22 online: https://bit.ly/PublicHearing278
And Hilton Head residents will soon get a glimpse of how town officials want to tweak and modify SCDOT’s plan to reshape the U.S. 278 corridor.
MKSK, a town-hired land planning firm, will explain its proposed modifications to the state plan during three public forums on Aug. 16 and Aug. 17, Shawn Colin, senior adviser to Hilton Head’s town manager, previously said.
The town has hired MKSK, based in Greenville, for $98,660 to examine and critique the SCDOT’s highway ideas.
The firm, Colin has said, could counter the state’s favored construction plan, or “preferred alternative,” with its own proposals, including different design concepts for Hilton Head intersections.
Two of the town’s public forums will be held on Aug. 16 at the Island Recreation Center from 9 to 11 a.m. and 5 to 7 p.m., Town Manager Marc Orlando previously said.
The other forum will be held at Town Hall on Aug. 17 from 9 to 11 a.m., Orlando said.
The forums will occur just before MKSK and town staff bring their suggestions to the island’s Town Council for consideration during an Aug. 17 meeting.
Colin said he hopes to get the council’s “soft position” on the state’s preferred alternative, and MKSK’s ideas, on Aug. 17, before then submitting the town’s official public comment on the project to SCDOT before Aug. 22.
The project’s 45-day public comment period ends Aug. 22. SCDOT must respond to written comments made between July 7 and Aug. 22, Colin has said.
Colin expects state officials to spend two to three months responding to the public’s written comments.
The transportation agency could then release an updated version of its preferred alternative this fall, he has said.
This story was originally published July 23, 2021 at 2:53 PM.
