How does Hilton Head want to change DOT’s plan for US 278 bridges? Here’s a breakdown
The Hilton Head Island Town Council has been debating whether to make a tentative counter to the S.C. Department of Transportation’s plan for U.S. 278.
But what, exactly, would be in the town’s counter?
MKSK, a Greenville-based land planning firm that the town hired for $98,660 this past spring, has compiled recommended tweaks to SCDOT’s $290 million proposal.
Here are three of the biggest changes that MKSK has endorsed:
1. Splitting the bridge
SCDOT wants to demolish the existing U.S. 278 bridges to Hilton Head and build a new, six-lane bridge south of the highway’s current footprint between Bluffton and Jenkins Island.
MKSK, meanwhile, has argued that the state should instead build two new bridges with three traffic lanes on each structure.
The consultant also favors extending the width of a proposed bicycle and pedestrian pathway on the southern edge of the bridge from 10 feet to 14 feet. And MKSK wants to build at least one rest area on the pathway so people can hang out above Skull Creek, records show.
2. Reducing lane width in Stoney
The state plans to widen U.S. 278 to six traffic lanes and one westbound acceleration lane in the Stoney community, west of Squire Pope Road, where generations of native islanders have raised their families.
SCDOT has argued that the highway’s right-of-way in Stoney should be 130 feet wide, according to MKSK. The current right-of-way is 78 feet wide.
MKSK has suggested that SCDOT cut the westbound acceleration lane from its plan and make the six traffic lanes 11 feet wide instead of 12 feet wide. MKSK wants the U.S. 278 right-of-way to be 118 feet wide.
Patsy Brison, co-founder of the Coalition of Island Neighbors, argued that the consultant’s plan still calls for a significant increase in the highway’s width through the middle of the neighborhood.
“That is not acceptable,” Brison said during a Town Council meeting last Monday.
Shawn Colin, senior adviser to Hilton Head’s town manager, said MKSK has not completed an analysis on the total amount of right-of-way acquisition needed for its plan in Stoney.
That analysis could be available in a month, Colin said in a Thursday interview.
SCDOT wants to acquire 4.8 acres in Stoney.
3. Keeping left turns
SCDOT wants to eliminate left turns at two major intersections on Hilton Head: Squire Pope Road-U.S. 278 and Spanish Wells-Wild Horse roads.
The state’s plan would force eastbound U.S. 278 drivers to make a U-turn at a redesigned Old Wild Horse Road-U.S. 278 intersection before eventually turning right onto Squire Pope Road. (The Old Wild Horse Road intersection is about 0.2 miles east of Squire Pope Road.)
Old Wild Horse Road would also be turned into a one-way street that connects drivers to Wild Horse Road. 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 plan has infuriated residents who argue that the proposed intersections are confusing. Hilton Head Plantation, in particular, has blasted SCDOT’s ideas.
MKSK has taken note of the frustration. The consultant’s tentative plan would allow U.S. 278 drivers to continue to make left turns onto Squire Pope Road. At the U.S. 278 intersection, there would be two left turn lanes onto Squire Pope Road, one right turn lane onto Chamberlin Drive, and three eastbound traffic lanes headed toward the Cross Island Parkway. There would be nine U.S. 278 lanes in total, including three westbound lanes, at that location.
The consultant also wants to keep the Old Wild Horse Road intersection the same as the current configuration and continue to allow left turns at the Spanish Wells-Wild Horse roads intersection.
“Although not perfect, our board of directors, and the feedback we are getting from our citizens, is overwhelmingly much more positive to the plan provided by the town’s consultant,” said Peter Kristian, general manager of Hilton Head Plantation.
What’s next?
The island’s Town Council appears to be split, 4-3, over whether to move forward now and negotiate over the $290 million U.S. 278 plan or demand that state transportation officials revisit key parts of their favored construction proposal.
The fissure was revealed last Monday as representatives discussed MKSK’s recommendations.
The firm’s ideas did not win over three Town Council members, who argued that the SCDOT plan is fundamentally flawed, and that by simply proposing adjustments to the state’s proposal, the consultant’s tentative stance on U.S. 278 did not satisfy them.
The three expressed a litany of concerns about SCDOT’s scope of study for the project, the state’s traffic analysis and existing capacity issues on Hilton Head, among other things.
The council’s disagreements reflect the ongoing debate among residents who are willing to work with the state’s ideas and those who want to go back to the drawing board.
“It’s not a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to fix what SCDOT has put in front of us,” Ward 1 council member Alex Brown said. “What I’m proposing ... is that we simply say to SCDOT, ‘No thanks, at the moment.’”
Will that happen, though?
Three other representatives and the mayor on Monday appeared to favor moving forward with MKSK’s ideas and seeking input from Beaufort County and SCDOT leaders about the firm’s suggestions.
“I am very comfortable in continuing to move along,” said Ward 5 representative Tom Lennox.
The council did not take action on the issue Monday, and Mayor John McCann said the elected officials would discuss U.S. 278 again this week.
