Port Royal’s beloved Sands Beach getting new access bridge and boardwalk repairs
On any given day, it’s not unusual to see a row of vehicles and golf carts parked nearly on the water’s edge at Port Royal’s Sands Beach on Battery Creek. Anglers can also be seen casting lines into the water. Some of them may reel in a small shark or possibly a big black drum. Others are seen walking the beach, combing the sand for shark’s teeth, while many just come here to enjoy the view of the water and the sunsets.
While the easy and free access to the front-row seat on Battery Creek makes Sands Beach beloved to locals and visitors, signs posted on its access road also come with a warning that shouldn’t be ignored: “Beware of incoming tides.” Those tides have been known to trap unsuspecting visitors. Moreover, their relentless rise and fall sometimes turns portions of the road and parking lot into a mine field, with huge holes developing in the sensitive topography as a result of the daily influx of water.
Finally, the town has the South Carolina Department of Environmental Services’ permission to address this problem, which the public has complained about with increasing frequency in recent years. The solution: Constructing a 150- to 200-foot-long timber bridge that will rise to accommodate the tides while providing safe passage for both vehicles and pedestrians over the problem areas.
“It’s a pretty significant structure,” Town Manager Van Willis said.
The new access will join a boardwalk and observation deck and boat ramp that already make the Sands Beach area one of the region’s top outdoor destinations.
Potholes regularly develop in the road to the beach and the parking area because of the daily deluge of water. But fixing the problem hasn’t been as simple as grading the holes. That kind of work requires permits from the state due to the area’s marsh and waterfront environment.
Willis said the town looked instead for a permanent solution particularly as changing topography and tide patterns exacerbated the problem in recent years, with vehicles routinely having to cut through areas where saltwater would accumulate.
Along with the bridge to Sands Beach, retaining walls also will be built that will allow the town to legally grade uneven areas without having to a get a permit each time, Willis said.
The cost of the project is $1.5 to $1.6 million. American Rescue Plan Act funds will used for the project. ARPA, which was signed into law by President Joe Biden in 2021, guaranteed funding to local municipalities in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The deadline to obligate the money is Dec. 31.
The causeway to Sands Beach will be completed before summer, Willis says.
The work can’t come soon enough for Sheree Richnow, a resident who moved to the area about 3 1/2 years ago.
She showed up at a Town Council meeting last week to discuss the condition of the access road to the beach and to urge the town to better alert visitors to the situation particularly those who may not be familiar with tides. Please don’t assume, said Richnow, who grew up in Colorado, that visitors “understand how to escape Sands Beach.”
Richnow shared a harrowing experience she had visiting the beach last summer with her dog. She drove her Jaguar into the parking area but was caught off guard when the water began to quickly rise. She sat in her vehicle for an hour-and-a-half, she said, trying to figure out if a clear path would allow her to safely drive out of the area. Finally, with darkness falling and the tide rising, she made a break for it, gunning the vehicle through water.
“It was pretty scary,” said Richnow, “and it was dark by the time I left.”
Richnow made it out but her vehicle stalled on the other side of the water.
With the new bridge being constructed, she was assured that help is on the way.
Boardwalk and boat ramp repairs
Help also is on the way for the heavily-used Henry Robinson Boardwalk at the beach, which was been closed since late September after Tropical Storm Helene washed away a large section.
Repairs are expected to begin in a few weeks, Willis said, and the project will be completed sometime after the first of the years. About 30 large pilings, which will be used in the repairs, already have been dropped off near the boardwalk. The cost of the project is about $200,000 and will also include improvements to the observation deck, which was not damaged by the storm.
“It’s not that it’s unstable,” Willis said of the observation tower. “It’s something you really need to keep up with.”
The Sands Beach boat landing also was damaged by the September storm and everybody is wondering when it will reopen, said Beaufort County Councilwoman Alice Howard. The county maintains the boat ramp. O’Quinn Marine Construction has been chosen by the county to fix the boat ramp but it is waiting on parts before it begins the work, Howard said
This story was originally published December 19, 2024 at 12:40 PM.
